The Influence of Organizational Factors on Hospital-Based Registered Nurses’ Work Attitudes in Nigeria

Abstract

The current global skilled healthcare workforce brain drain is projected to be more severe in low income countries especially, sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria currently faces the challenge of acute shortage of Nurses and Midwives coupled with frequent industrial disputes which continue to have devastating impact on healthcare delivery. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the influence of organizational factors such as competence development practices, work-life balance, perceived organizational support and organizational commitment to employees on hospital-based registered nurses and midwives' job satisfaction, affective commitment and turnover intention. Using cross-sectional survey design a stratified sample of Nurses and Midwives (N=220) from six public hospitals in Ondo State of Nigeria was obtained via a self-administered questionnaire comprising five sections. Regression analysis showed that competence development practices, work-life balance, perceived organizational support and organization's commitment to employees have significant positive relationship with registered nurses' job satisfaction and affective commitment but a significant negative relationship with turnover intention. Results of the study highlight the important role of organizational factors on nurses' job attitudes and may benefit health care organizations and hospital administration as they seek to improve nurses' commitment, job satisfaction and retention.