The role of human resource management practices on Iranian Nurses’ job satisfaction

The purpose of this study was to identify the HRM practices, which affect job satisfaction (JS) of nurses from the nature of work in private and public hospitals.

In most hospitals, a manager has been appointed with responsibility for quality improvement. Nurses, the largest professional group within health service, are expected to providing good quality care. How can nurses provide such care without satisfaction of their work? If administrators identify factors influencing nurses’ JS in hospitals and implement strategies to address these factors, the quality of health service will increase.

The researcher created a questionnaire in 3 parts regarding to HRM facets, demographic data, and JS about the nature of work for deeper investigation. The sample was 400 nurses, from 10 private and public medium size general hospitals, chosen randomly.

The results indicate that HRM practices in the all facets directly affected on the JS of nurses. Although χ2 test demonstrated HRM practices in public hospitals were better than private hospitals, the total JS of nurses was the same in both public and private hospitals. Among the various components of the nature of work, nurses of this study were most dissatisfied with their wards staffing adequacy (78.5%, 47.5%). This was followed by overtime (65%, 52.5%), equipments (61%, 40.5%), Non- nursing duties (78%, 68%) in public and private sector respectively. Total dissatisfaction with the nature of work was (28.3%). Also, the total JS was very low (9.3%) in both pubic and private hospitals.

The findings have implications for nurse managers and hospital administrators for planning and implementing effective health policies that will meet the unique needs of their staff and organizations.