Influence of Emotional Labor and Nursing Professional Values on Job Satisfaction in Small and Medium-sized Hospital Nurses

Ryu, Yeong Ok; Ko, Eun

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was done to investigate the correlation among emotional labor, nursing professional values, and job satisfaction and identify factors that affect job satisfaction of nurses working in small and medium-sized hospitals.
METHODS
Data were collected from 214 nurses in S city. The following measurement tools were used: Emotional labor by Morris et al. (1996), Nursing Professional Values Scale by Yeun et al. (2005), and Index of Work Satisfaction by Stamps et al. (1978). Collected data were analyzed with SPSS/WIN 18.0 using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple regression.
RESULTS
Participants' scores for emotional labor, nursing professional values and job satisfaction were 3.11+/-0.48, 3.46+/-0.39, and 3.02+/-0.29 respectively. Emotional labor showed a negative correlation with job satisfaction (r=-.33, p<.001), while nursing professional values showed a positive correlation with job satisfaction (r=.58, p<.001). Emotional labor and nursing professional values were identified as factors influencing job satisfaction. The model explained about 39% of the variance in job satisfaction (F=67.40, p<.001).
CONCLUSION
The results of this study suggest that it is important to manage emotional labor as well as to improve professional values and job satisfaction of nurses working in small and medium-sized hospital.