Journal of Nursing Management, 2016, 24, 30–38
Influence of work values and personality traits on intent to stay among nurses at various types of hospital in Taiwan LI-CHIU CHEN R N , M S N 1, SHOA-JEN PERNG HUI-LING LAI R N , P h D 4,5
RN, PhD
2
, FWU-MEI CHANG
RN, PhD
3
and
1
Head Nurse, Department of Nursing, St Mary’s Hospital, Lotung, Ilan, 2Associate Professor, Department of Nursing, Tzu Chi College of Technology, Hualien, 3Director, Department of Education Development, Tzu Chi Foundation, Hualien, 4Professor, Department of Nursing, Tzu Chi University, Hualien and 5Vice Director, Department of Nursing, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan
Correspondence Hui-Ling Lai Department of Nursing Tzu Chi University 707 Section 3 Zhongyang Road Hualien 970 Taiwan E-mail: [email protected]
CHEN L.-C., PERNG S.-J., CHANG F.-M.,
&
LAI H.-L.
(2016) Journal of Nursing Manage-
ment 24, 30–38 Influence of work values and personality traits on intent to stay among nurses at various types of hospital in Taiwan Aim In this study, the influence of work values and personality traits on the intent to stay at work was examined among nurses in Taiwan. Background No empirical studies in this area have been conducted in the nursing industry. Methods A cross-sectional predictive study was performed during 2012 with 1246 nurses recruited from three different types of hospital located in northeastern Taiwan. A structured questionnaire based on the 5-factor model was used. Multiple regression analyses were used to investigate the various factors associated with the intent to stay at work among nurses. Results The overall response rate was 85%. The nurses who had a high level of intent to stay at work were significantly more likely to be in senior roles; exhibited positive work values, conscientiousness, emotional stability; and worked at a non-religious hospital. Conclusion Age, the role of work values, personality traits and type of hospital were crucial in enhancing the level of intent to stay at work. Implications for nursing management The study findings provide evidence for managers to develop an optimal strategy for nurses with specific personality traits and highly positive work values, which can guide the recruitment and retention of nurses. Keywords: intent to stay, nurses, personality traits, turnover, working values Accepted for publication: 11 August 2014
Introduction Considerable evidence has indicated that the intent to stay at work is a strong predictor of retention (Ellenbecker et al. 2008, Hayes et al. 2012). Conversely, nurses’ intent to leave their jobs can jeopardise nurse turnover, undermining the quality of care and increasing the cost of health care (Hayes et al. 30
2012). The labour environments of the nursing industry in Taiwan are dynamic, complex, relatively unfriendly and inherently stressful; poor quality hospital work environments are common (Aiken et al. 2011). Nursing work environments are a key factor influencing the intention to leave the profession (Aiken et al. 2011, Heede et al. 2013). The nursing profession has long been experiencing difficulty in staff DOI: 10.1111/jonm.12268 ª 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Work values and personality traits on intent to stay
retention. A recent survey revealed that 29.5% of nurses intend to leave their hospitals (Heede et al. 2013). For many years, more than 40% of all registered nurses have been non-practising (Taiwan Union of Nurses Association 2014). A previous study suggested that registered nurses frequently move to non-nursing positions (Lai et al. 2008) for diverse reasons (Daouk€ Oyry et al. 2014). A latest survey conducted by the Taiwan Union of Nurses Association (2012) in Taiwan reported that over 90% of hospital administrators encountered difficulty in nursing staff recruitment. Nursing staff working hours reach 10–12 per day, but nurses only receive pay for 8 hours, and an average nurse-to-patient ratio is 10–15 patients per nurse (Taiwan Union of Nurses Association 2012). Moreover, the caseload for clinical nurses in Taiwan was three times that in American hospitals. Retaining experienced nurses in hospitals is always a challenge and the turnover of frontline nurses is critical for hospital administrators. Age, educational background, job satisfaction, salary, workload, stress, burnout, overload, quality of leadership and organisational climate have been indicated as significant predictors of the intention of nurses to leave their jobs (Hayes et al. 2012). However, employees’ personal characteristics, particularly regarding personality traits and work values, have been studied in only a few research projects that have focused on the intention of nurses to leave their jobs for other labour markets (Judeh 2012). No research has been devoted to this area of the nursing industry. Personnel recruitment and retention decisions are often executed based on personality traits and work values (Parks & Guay 2009, Cheng et al. 2013), and thus it is necessary for nurse administrators to understand what variables are associated with intent to stay at work. However, little information is available regarding the personality traits and work values of nurses and how these may influence their intent to stay at work and this problem is particularly critical in the nursing industry and concerns nursing managers. Moreover, an integrative review of 31 studies by Flinkman et al. (2010) has suggested that further research is required, using representative samples. In addition, researchers must examine various types of health care organisations and workforces to improve the insight regarding turnover (Hayes et al. 2012). In the escalating nursing shortage, nurse managers and administrators are challenged to recruit and retain nursing staff. If predictors of intent to stay are ª 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Journal of Nursing Management, 2016, 24, 30–38
determined, appropriate retention strategies can be developed. Thus, it is necessary to understand the factors that can facilitate managers in introducing appropriate retention plans. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of work values and personality traits on intent to stay among nurses in Taiwan, as well as to investigate potential associations between background variables and intent to stay.
Conceptual framework and relevant literature This study of the salient influencing factors of intent to stay is based primarily on the relevant literature (Hayes et al. 2012), the authors’ administration experience and the five-factor model of personality (McCrae & Costa 1997). The five-factor model of personality used in this study comprised: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and emotional stability. The model is widely accepted as a meaningful method to organise personality traits and has been reported to have cross-cultural generalisability (McCrae & Costa 1997). Numerous cumulative summaries have concluded that personality traits are relevant variables for predicting and explaining employees organisational behaviours in other industries (Scherer et al. 2013, Ogunfowora 2014); however, the relationship between intent to stay and the five personality dimensions have remained unexplored in the nursing workforce. Values are preferences or principles (Parks & Guay 2009) and are evaluative. They guide judgements regarding appropriate behaviour both for oneself and for others (Parks & Guay 2009). Work values are the basic beliefs and principles that guide people in the occupational decision-making process and subsequently affect job satisfaction. Although little information regarding the relationship between work values and turnover is available, work values are determined to exert a moderate effect on turnover (Cheng et al. 2013). Research has shown that strong work values are significantly correlated with job involvement (Chen & Chiou 2010) and lower turnover intention (Wang et al. 2010). To determine the influencing factors of intent to stay, Hayes et al. (2012) reviewed 68 recent studies related to the problem of intent to stay and summarised that nurses’ individual characteristics, workload, stress and organisational factors are associated with nurse turnover. Nurse administrators must focus on incorporating such factors into the strategic plans of their organisations. However, nursing administration departments encounter numerous difficulties in retain31
Work values and personality traits on intent to stay
exhibited positive work values and conscientiousness, and were emotionally stable. We also found that the nurses at the religious hospital had a lower intent to stay. These results help administrators and managers to develop more effective retention strategies incorporating support systems and education at all levels of nursing that ultimately facilitates establishing the workforce in the future.
Acknowledgements We would like to thank Dr Kristiina Hyrkas and the reviewers for their comments for improving the manuscript.
Source of funding The authors did not receive any funding for this paper.
Ethical approval Ethical approval was obtained from the institutional review boards (102002, 2013D001, CGH-LP102002) of the hospitals involved in this research.
References AbuAlrub R.F., Gharaibeh H.F. & Bashayreh A.E. (2012) The relationships between safety climate, teamwork, and intent to stay at work among Jordanian hospital nurses. Nursing Forum 47 (1), 65–75. Aiken L.H., Sloane D.M., Clarke S. et al. (2011) Importance of work environments on hospital outcomes in nine countries. International Journal for Quality in Health Care 23 (4), 357– 364. Allen D.G. & Shanock L.R. (2013) Perceived organisational support and embeddedness as key mechanisms connecting socialisation tactics to commitment and turnover among new employees. Journal of Organizational Behavior 34 (3), 350–369. American Nurses Credentialing Center (2014) Find a Magnet Hospital. Available at: http://www.nursecredentialing.org/ Magnet/FindaMagnetFacility, accessed 8 July 2014. Carlstrom A.H. (2011) Living the good (work) life: implications of general values for work values. National Academic Advising Association Journal 31 (2), 33–43. Caspi A., Roberts B.W. & Shiner R.L. (2005) Personality development: stability and change. Annual Review of Psychology 56, 453–484. Chen S.H. & Chiou C.J. (2010) Relationships amongst work values, job characteristics and job involvement in ‘Net Generation’ nurses. The Journal of Nursing 57 (2), 29–38. Cheng P.Y., Yang J.T., Wan C.S. & Chu M.C. (2013) Ethical contexts and employee job responses in the hotel industry: the roles of work values and perceived organizational supª 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Journal of Nursing Management, 2016, 24, 30–38
port. International Journal of Hospitality Management 34, 108–115. Comperatore E. & Nerone F. (2008) Coping with different generations in the workplace. Journal of Business and Economics Research 6 (6), 15–29. Costa P.T. & McCrae R.R. (1992) Revised NEO Personality Inventory and NEO Five-Factor Inventory, Psychological Assessment Resources, Odessa, FL. Available at: http://wenku.baidu.com/view/01d878d728ea81c758f5785a.html. € Daouk-Oyry L., Anouze A.L., Otaki F., Dumit N.Y. & Osman I. (2014) The JOINT model of nurse absenteeism and turnover: a systematic review. International Journal of Nursing Studies 51 (1), 93–110. Donley R. & Flaherty M.J. (2008) Promoting professional development: three phases of articulation in nursing education and practice. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing 13 (3). doi: 10.3912/OJIN.Vol13No03Man02. Ehrler D.J., Gary E.J. & Mcghee R.L. (1999) Extending big-five theory into childhood: a preliminary investigation into the relationship between big-five personality traits and behavior problems in children. Psychology in the Schools 36 (6), 451– 458. Ellenbecker C., Porell F., Samia L., Byleckie J. & Milburn M. (2008) Predictors of home healthcare nurse retention. Journal of Nursing Scholarship 40 (2), 151–160. Flinkman M., Leino-Kilpi H. & Salanter€ a S. (2010) Nurses’ intention to leave the profession: integrative review. Journal of Advanced Nursing 66 (7), 1422–1434. Goldberg L.R. (1993) The structure of phenotypic personality traits. American Psychologist 48, 26–34. Hayes L.J., O’Brien-Pallas L., Duffield C. et al. (2012) Nurse turnover: a literature review – an update. International Journal of Nursing Studies 49 (7), 887–905. Heede K.V., Florquin M., Bruyneel L. et al. (2013) Effective strategies for nurse retention in acute hospitals: a mixed method study. International Journal of Nursing Studies 50 (2), 185–194. Judeh M. (2012) Selected personality traits and intent to leave: a field study in insurance corporations. International Business Research 5 (5), 88–93. Kolodinsky R.W., Giacalone R.A. & Jurkiewicz C.L. (2008) Workplace values and outcomes: exploring personal, organizational, and interactive workplace spirituality. Journal of Business Ethics 81, 465–480. Lai H., Lin Y., Chang H. et al. (2008) Intensive care unit staff nurses: predicting factors for career decisions. Journal of Clinical Nursing 17 (14), 1886–1896. Liu Y.S., Liu P.E. & Su S.F. (2011) Factors related to the image of professional nursing and intent to stay among nurses in Taiwan. Cheng Ching Medical Journal 7 (2), 61– 68. McCrae R.R. & Costa P.T. (1997) Personality trait structure as a human universal. American Psychologist 52, 509–516. Ogunfowora B. (2014) The impact of ethical leadership within the recruitment context: the roles of organizational reputation, applicant personality, and value congruence. The Leadership Quarterly 25 (3), 528–543. Olver J.M. & Mooradian T.A. (2003) Personality traits and personal values: a conceptual and empirical integration. Personality and Individual Differences 35, 109–125.
37
Work values and personality traits on intent to stay
study. The five factors are considered universal, having been recovered in languages such as German and Chinese (McCrae & Costa 1997, Wang & Li 2011). Work values. The self-rated work values questionnaire is composed of 26 items synthesised from the authors’ clinical experience with staff nurses, and a literature review (Wang et al. 2010, Carlstrom 2011). It is a global measure with five components: altruism (three items), job satisfaction (10 items), professional autonomy (four items), professional development (four items) and achievements (five items). This instrument applied a 5-point Likert-type scale response format in which 1 represents ‘strongly disagree’ and 5 represents ‘strongly agree’. The sum of all 26 items yield a global value score. High scores indicate more positive work values. The reported content validity has been 0.93 with a Cronbach’s a of 0.96 (Wang et al. 2010). In this study, the overall Cronbach reliability coefficient was 0.91.
Procedures Approval was obtained from the research committees of the three hospitals, which granted ethical approval (102002, 2013D001 and CGH-LP102002). Detailed information was provided to the hospital administrators regarding the purpose of the survey, and consent was requested to conduct the study at the three hospitals. Nurses were verbally informed of the survey by the administrators of each hospital. The assurance of the respondents’ confidentiality was emphasised. A cover letter explaining the purpose of the survey and a requested return date accompanied the survey. The letter also indicated that participation was voluntary. An informed consent form was included in the section following the questionnaire cover letter. Approximately 15–20 minute was required to complete the questionnaire and this was performed during off-duty hours. One week later, a research assistant visited the hospitals to collect all the questionnaires from the respective administrators/managers. All the questionnaires were returned in sealed envelopes. Data collection occurred over approximately 4 weeks in each hospital. All the responses were recorded for each case number and were entered into a database for subsequent analysis.
Data analysis Data were analysed using PASW 18 for Windows (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). The demographic data, the work values, the personality traits and intent to stay ª 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Journal of Nursing Management, 2016, 24, 30–38
were evaluated using descriptive statistics. Fisher’s skewness coefficients of all the included continuous variables were between 2.58 and consequently, the included variables accommodated the normality assumption of the parametric statistical tests. The associations between each of the personality trait dimensions and intent to stay were examined using t-tests and Pearson product–moment correlations. The significant dimensions were entered into a multiple regression analysis, with intent to stay as the dependent variable. Multiple regression analyses were employed for developing a model for the nurses’ intent to stay. The regression models were assessed for violations of regression assumptions by generating scatter plots for the standardised residuals. To guard against multicollinearity, correlation coefficients between all continuous independent variables were investigated and were
Influence of work values and personality traits on intent to stay among nurses at various types of hospital in Taiwan LI-CHIU CHEN R N , M S N 1, SHOA-JEN PERNG HUI-LING LAI R N , P h D 4,5
RN, PhD
2
, FWU-MEI CHANG
RN, PhD
3
and
1
Head Nurse, Department of Nursing, St Mary’s Hospital, Lotung, Ilan, 2Associate Professor, Department of Nursing, Tzu Chi College of Technology, Hualien, 3Director, Department of Education Development, Tzu Chi Foundation, Hualien, 4Professor, Department of Nursing, Tzu Chi University, Hualien and 5Vice Director, Department of Nursing, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan
Correspondence Hui-Ling Lai Department of Nursing Tzu Chi University 707 Section 3 Zhongyang Road Hualien 970 Taiwan E-mail: [email protected]
CHEN L.-C., PERNG S.-J., CHANG F.-M.,
&
LAI H.-L.
(2016) Journal of Nursing Manage-
ment 24, 30–38 Influence of work values and personality traits on intent to stay among nurses at various types of hospital in Taiwan Aim In this study, the influence of work values and personality traits on the intent to stay at work was examined among nurses in Taiwan. Background No empirical studies in this area have been conducted in the nursing industry. Methods A cross-sectional predictive study was performed during 2012 with 1246 nurses recruited from three different types of hospital located in northeastern Taiwan. A structured questionnaire based on the 5-factor model was used. Multiple regression analyses were used to investigate the various factors associated with the intent to stay at work among nurses. Results The overall response rate was 85%. The nurses who had a high level of intent to stay at work were significantly more likely to be in senior roles; exhibited positive work values, conscientiousness, emotional stability; and worked at a non-religious hospital. Conclusion Age, the role of work values, personality traits and type of hospital were crucial in enhancing the level of intent to stay at work. Implications for nursing management The study findings provide evidence for managers to develop an optimal strategy for nurses with specific personality traits and highly positive work values, which can guide the recruitment and retention of nurses. Keywords: intent to stay, nurses, personality traits, turnover, working values Accepted for publication: 11 August 2014
Introduction Considerable evidence has indicated that the intent to stay at work is a strong predictor of retention (Ellenbecker et al. 2008, Hayes et al. 2012). Conversely, nurses’ intent to leave their jobs can jeopardise nurse turnover, undermining the quality of care and increasing the cost of health care (Hayes et al. 30
2012). The labour environments of the nursing industry in Taiwan are dynamic, complex, relatively unfriendly and inherently stressful; poor quality hospital work environments are common (Aiken et al. 2011). Nursing work environments are a key factor influencing the intention to leave the profession (Aiken et al. 2011, Heede et al. 2013). The nursing profession has long been experiencing difficulty in staff DOI: 10.1111/jonm.12268 ª 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Work values and personality traits on intent to stay
retention. A recent survey revealed that 29.5% of nurses intend to leave their hospitals (Heede et al. 2013). For many years, more than 40% of all registered nurses have been non-practising (Taiwan Union of Nurses Association 2014). A previous study suggested that registered nurses frequently move to non-nursing positions (Lai et al. 2008) for diverse reasons (Daouk€ Oyry et al. 2014). A latest survey conducted by the Taiwan Union of Nurses Association (2012) in Taiwan reported that over 90% of hospital administrators encountered difficulty in nursing staff recruitment. Nursing staff working hours reach 10–12 per day, but nurses only receive pay for 8 hours, and an average nurse-to-patient ratio is 10–15 patients per nurse (Taiwan Union of Nurses Association 2012). Moreover, the caseload for clinical nurses in Taiwan was three times that in American hospitals. Retaining experienced nurses in hospitals is always a challenge and the turnover of frontline nurses is critical for hospital administrators. Age, educational background, job satisfaction, salary, workload, stress, burnout, overload, quality of leadership and organisational climate have been indicated as significant predictors of the intention of nurses to leave their jobs (Hayes et al. 2012). However, employees’ personal characteristics, particularly regarding personality traits and work values, have been studied in only a few research projects that have focused on the intention of nurses to leave their jobs for other labour markets (Judeh 2012). No research has been devoted to this area of the nursing industry. Personnel recruitment and retention decisions are often executed based on personality traits and work values (Parks & Guay 2009, Cheng et al. 2013), and thus it is necessary for nurse administrators to understand what variables are associated with intent to stay at work. However, little information is available regarding the personality traits and work values of nurses and how these may influence their intent to stay at work and this problem is particularly critical in the nursing industry and concerns nursing managers. Moreover, an integrative review of 31 studies by Flinkman et al. (2010) has suggested that further research is required, using representative samples. In addition, researchers must examine various types of health care organisations and workforces to improve the insight regarding turnover (Hayes et al. 2012). In the escalating nursing shortage, nurse managers and administrators are challenged to recruit and retain nursing staff. If predictors of intent to stay are ª 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Journal of Nursing Management, 2016, 24, 30–38
determined, appropriate retention strategies can be developed. Thus, it is necessary to understand the factors that can facilitate managers in introducing appropriate retention plans. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of work values and personality traits on intent to stay among nurses in Taiwan, as well as to investigate potential associations between background variables and intent to stay.
Conceptual framework and relevant literature This study of the salient influencing factors of intent to stay is based primarily on the relevant literature (Hayes et al. 2012), the authors’ administration experience and the five-factor model of personality (McCrae & Costa 1997). The five-factor model of personality used in this study comprised: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and emotional stability. The model is widely accepted as a meaningful method to organise personality traits and has been reported to have cross-cultural generalisability (McCrae & Costa 1997). Numerous cumulative summaries have concluded that personality traits are relevant variables for predicting and explaining employees organisational behaviours in other industries (Scherer et al. 2013, Ogunfowora 2014); however, the relationship between intent to stay and the five personality dimensions have remained unexplored in the nursing workforce. Values are preferences or principles (Parks & Guay 2009) and are evaluative. They guide judgements regarding appropriate behaviour both for oneself and for others (Parks & Guay 2009). Work values are the basic beliefs and principles that guide people in the occupational decision-making process and subsequently affect job satisfaction. Although little information regarding the relationship between work values and turnover is available, work values are determined to exert a moderate effect on turnover (Cheng et al. 2013). Research has shown that strong work values are significantly correlated with job involvement (Chen & Chiou 2010) and lower turnover intention (Wang et al. 2010). To determine the influencing factors of intent to stay, Hayes et al. (2012) reviewed 68 recent studies related to the problem of intent to stay and summarised that nurses’ individual characteristics, workload, stress and organisational factors are associated with nurse turnover. Nurse administrators must focus on incorporating such factors into the strategic plans of their organisations. However, nursing administration departments encounter numerous difficulties in retain31
Work values and personality traits on intent to stay
exhibited positive work values and conscientiousness, and were emotionally stable. We also found that the nurses at the religious hospital had a lower intent to stay. These results help administrators and managers to develop more effective retention strategies incorporating support systems and education at all levels of nursing that ultimately facilitates establishing the workforce in the future.
Acknowledgements We would like to thank Dr Kristiina Hyrkas and the reviewers for their comments for improving the manuscript.
Source of funding The authors did not receive any funding for this paper.
Ethical approval Ethical approval was obtained from the institutional review boards (102002, 2013D001, CGH-LP102002) of the hospitals involved in this research.
References AbuAlrub R.F., Gharaibeh H.F. & Bashayreh A.E. (2012) The relationships between safety climate, teamwork, and intent to stay at work among Jordanian hospital nurses. Nursing Forum 47 (1), 65–75. Aiken L.H., Sloane D.M., Clarke S. et al. (2011) Importance of work environments on hospital outcomes in nine countries. International Journal for Quality in Health Care 23 (4), 357– 364. Allen D.G. & Shanock L.R. (2013) Perceived organisational support and embeddedness as key mechanisms connecting socialisation tactics to commitment and turnover among new employees. Journal of Organizational Behavior 34 (3), 350–369. American Nurses Credentialing Center (2014) Find a Magnet Hospital. Available at: http://www.nursecredentialing.org/ Magnet/FindaMagnetFacility, accessed 8 July 2014. Carlstrom A.H. (2011) Living the good (work) life: implications of general values for work values. National Academic Advising Association Journal 31 (2), 33–43. Caspi A., Roberts B.W. & Shiner R.L. (2005) Personality development: stability and change. Annual Review of Psychology 56, 453–484. Chen S.H. & Chiou C.J. (2010) Relationships amongst work values, job characteristics and job involvement in ‘Net Generation’ nurses. The Journal of Nursing 57 (2), 29–38. Cheng P.Y., Yang J.T., Wan C.S. & Chu M.C. (2013) Ethical contexts and employee job responses in the hotel industry: the roles of work values and perceived organizational supª 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Journal of Nursing Management, 2016, 24, 30–38
port. International Journal of Hospitality Management 34, 108–115. Comperatore E. & Nerone F. (2008) Coping with different generations in the workplace. Journal of Business and Economics Research 6 (6), 15–29. Costa P.T. & McCrae R.R. (1992) Revised NEO Personality Inventory and NEO Five-Factor Inventory, Psychological Assessment Resources, Odessa, FL. Available at: http://wenku.baidu.com/view/01d878d728ea81c758f5785a.html. € Daouk-Oyry L., Anouze A.L., Otaki F., Dumit N.Y. & Osman I. (2014) The JOINT model of nurse absenteeism and turnover: a systematic review. International Journal of Nursing Studies 51 (1), 93–110. Donley R. & Flaherty M.J. (2008) Promoting professional development: three phases of articulation in nursing education and practice. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing 13 (3). doi: 10.3912/OJIN.Vol13No03Man02. Ehrler D.J., Gary E.J. & Mcghee R.L. (1999) Extending big-five theory into childhood: a preliminary investigation into the relationship between big-five personality traits and behavior problems in children. Psychology in the Schools 36 (6), 451– 458. Ellenbecker C., Porell F., Samia L., Byleckie J. & Milburn M. (2008) Predictors of home healthcare nurse retention. Journal of Nursing Scholarship 40 (2), 151–160. Flinkman M., Leino-Kilpi H. & Salanter€ a S. (2010) Nurses’ intention to leave the profession: integrative review. Journal of Advanced Nursing 66 (7), 1422–1434. Goldberg L.R. (1993) The structure of phenotypic personality traits. American Psychologist 48, 26–34. Hayes L.J., O’Brien-Pallas L., Duffield C. et al. (2012) Nurse turnover: a literature review – an update. International Journal of Nursing Studies 49 (7), 887–905. Heede K.V., Florquin M., Bruyneel L. et al. (2013) Effective strategies for nurse retention in acute hospitals: a mixed method study. International Journal of Nursing Studies 50 (2), 185–194. Judeh M. (2012) Selected personality traits and intent to leave: a field study in insurance corporations. International Business Research 5 (5), 88–93. Kolodinsky R.W., Giacalone R.A. & Jurkiewicz C.L. (2008) Workplace values and outcomes: exploring personal, organizational, and interactive workplace spirituality. Journal of Business Ethics 81, 465–480. Lai H., Lin Y., Chang H. et al. (2008) Intensive care unit staff nurses: predicting factors for career decisions. Journal of Clinical Nursing 17 (14), 1886–1896. Liu Y.S., Liu P.E. & Su S.F. (2011) Factors related to the image of professional nursing and intent to stay among nurses in Taiwan. Cheng Ching Medical Journal 7 (2), 61– 68. McCrae R.R. & Costa P.T. (1997) Personality trait structure as a human universal. American Psychologist 52, 509–516. Ogunfowora B. (2014) The impact of ethical leadership within the recruitment context: the roles of organizational reputation, applicant personality, and value congruence. The Leadership Quarterly 25 (3), 528–543. Olver J.M. & Mooradian T.A. (2003) Personality traits and personal values: a conceptual and empirical integration. Personality and Individual Differences 35, 109–125.
37
Work values and personality traits on intent to stay
study. The five factors are considered universal, having been recovered in languages such as German and Chinese (McCrae & Costa 1997, Wang & Li 2011). Work values. The self-rated work values questionnaire is composed of 26 items synthesised from the authors’ clinical experience with staff nurses, and a literature review (Wang et al. 2010, Carlstrom 2011). It is a global measure with five components: altruism (three items), job satisfaction (10 items), professional autonomy (four items), professional development (four items) and achievements (five items). This instrument applied a 5-point Likert-type scale response format in which 1 represents ‘strongly disagree’ and 5 represents ‘strongly agree’. The sum of all 26 items yield a global value score. High scores indicate more positive work values. The reported content validity has been 0.93 with a Cronbach’s a of 0.96 (Wang et al. 2010). In this study, the overall Cronbach reliability coefficient was 0.91.
Procedures Approval was obtained from the research committees of the three hospitals, which granted ethical approval (102002, 2013D001 and CGH-LP102002). Detailed information was provided to the hospital administrators regarding the purpose of the survey, and consent was requested to conduct the study at the three hospitals. Nurses were verbally informed of the survey by the administrators of each hospital. The assurance of the respondents’ confidentiality was emphasised. A cover letter explaining the purpose of the survey and a requested return date accompanied the survey. The letter also indicated that participation was voluntary. An informed consent form was included in the section following the questionnaire cover letter. Approximately 15–20 minute was required to complete the questionnaire and this was performed during off-duty hours. One week later, a research assistant visited the hospitals to collect all the questionnaires from the respective administrators/managers. All the questionnaires were returned in sealed envelopes. Data collection occurred over approximately 4 weeks in each hospital. All the responses were recorded for each case number and were entered into a database for subsequent analysis.
Data analysis Data were analysed using PASW 18 for Windows (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). The demographic data, the work values, the personality traits and intent to stay ª 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Journal of Nursing Management, 2016, 24, 30–38
were evaluated using descriptive statistics. Fisher’s skewness coefficients of all the included continuous variables were between 2.58 and consequently, the included variables accommodated the normality assumption of the parametric statistical tests. The associations between each of the personality trait dimensions and intent to stay were examined using t-tests and Pearson product–moment correlations. The significant dimensions were entered into a multiple regression analysis, with intent to stay as the dependent variable. Multiple regression analyses were employed for developing a model for the nurses’ intent to stay. The regression models were assessed for violations of regression assumptions by generating scatter plots for the standardised residuals. To guard against multicollinearity, correlation coefficients between all continuous independent variables were investigated and were
