Influence of organizational characteristics and caring attributes of managers on nurses' job enjoyment

Aim. This paper is a report of a study to investigate the effect of organizational characteristics and perceived caring attributes of managers on nurses' job enjoyment. Background. Job satisfaction was the outcome of several studies about organizational or professional practice environments. Study variables predicted 30-60% of the variance in job satisfaction. Job enjoyment, the affective dimension of job satisfaction and manager caring were not variables in previous studies. Methods. We recruited a convenience sample of Registered Nurses (n = 731) employed by a large healthcare system in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States of America. Participants were primarily staff nurses, female, white, full-time employees and 41 years of age or older. Most had a baccalaureate degree in nursing and 4.5% had an advanced practice license. Participants were surveyed in 2005 using Lake's Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index, Nyberg's Caring Assessment Scale, the Job Enjoyment Subscale of the Atwood and Hinshaw Job Satisfaction Scale and a demographic data form. Descriptive statistics were used to explore the study variables. Data were analysed using multiple regression. Results. Nursing foundations for quality of care, nurse manager ability, leadership and support of nurses, staffing and resource adequacy and collegial nurse-physician relations explained 30.6% of the variance in job enjoyment. Age, area of practice and job type explained an additional 5.4%. Conclusion. Quantitative measures did not identify a majority of the variables associated with job enjoyment. Research using a qualitative and quantitative methodology with different practice samples may reveal other variables that influence job enjoyment.