Empowerment, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment: comparison of permanent and temporary nurses in Korea
Received 12 January 2009; received in revised form 16 June 2009; accepted 18 June 2009.
Abstract
Aim
This study was conducted to describe and compare empowerment, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment between permanent and temporary nurses in Korea.
Background
Since Korea's economic crisis of 1997, Korea's labor market has been undergoing dramatic modification, and the rate of temporary nurses employed in health care organizations has gradually increased. However, studies focusing on nurses' employment status, which potentially affect the individual and hospital organization, have been rarely conducted.
Methods
This was a descriptive comparative study. The convenient sample of 416 nurses from 19 hospitals in Korea completed a structured questionnaire.
Results
Overall, permanent nurses presented higher levels of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and empowerment than did temporary nurses.
Conclusions
The results of this study indicated that health care administrators should develop strategies to close the gap of perceptions between permanent and temporary nurses in Korea. The results of this study also imply that such opportunities and compensation plans related with administrative recognition should be made available to the temporary nurses to manage their workforces more efficiently.
College of Nursing Science, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701, South Korea
ABSTRACT