Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship between Role Stress and Job Satisfaction among Nurses in Mumbai

Nursing is a very demanding profession that involves both, physical as well as emotional labour. Nurses are more prone to role stress than many other professions due to multitasking. There is a huge exodus of nurses from India to other developing countries for economic, social and work profile reasons. This loss of qualified paramedical personnel can cripple an already dismal healthcare system in India. Past research studies have considered various demographic factors in the context of role stressors in nurses. No study in the recent past has considered the moderating effect of gender on the relationship between role stress and job satisfaction in nurses, in India. This paper aims at testing the moderating effect of gender on the said relationship in nurses of municipal and private hospitals in Mumbai. Hospitals were grouped into clusters according to administrative zones of Mumbai. Three clusters were selected at random. Hospitals were selected at random from these clusters using the random number table and all nurses from the selected hospitals responded to a questionnaire that was used as a survey instrument. The sample consisted of 450 nurses and the response rate was 94.7%. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted followed by confirmatory factor analysis for establishing the reliability and validity of the scales used. Path analysis showed significant relationships between role ambiguity and intrinsic satisfaction, and role conflict and extrinsic satisfaction. Gender moderated the relationship between role ambiguity and intrinsic satisfaction but did not moderate the relationship between role conflict and extrinsic satisfaction.