ABSTRACT
Background: The current shortage of professional nurses in Taiwan both undermines hospital quality of care and raises hospitals' human resource management costs. Few studies have concurrently investigated the interaction effect between professional commitment and, respectively, the positive and negative work attitudes of nurses. Results of this investigation may help improve strategies designed to raise nurse retention rates.
Purpose: This study used the interaction effects of work excitement and work frustration to assess their influence on the professional commitment of nurses.
Methods: This study was conducted at one hospital in southern Taiwan and used a cross-sectional design with self-administrated questionnaires. Seven hundred thirty-five nurses completed and submitted valid questionnaires (valid response rate: 68.5%). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the reliability and validity of the three measurement models of work excitement, work frustration, and professional commitment. Correlation and hierarchical regression analysis verified the direct and interaction effects with the correlations among the three measured variables.
Results: Work frustration was higher than work excitement among participants (M = 2.72, SD = 0.71 vs. M = 2.26, SD = 0.62). The mean participant score for professional commitment was 2.72 (SD = 0.45) on a 4-point Likert scale. There was a significant and positive correlation between work excitement and professional commitment and a significant and negative correlation between work frustration and professional commitment. High work frustration had a negative effect on professional commitment, whereas high work excitement had a higher positive effect on professional commitment. The two-way interaction between work excitement and frustration was statistically significant in explaining the effects of professional commitment (p < .01).
Conclusions/Implications for Practice: Nurses often work in conditions that are highly frustrating. Although work excitement has been shown as having a greater influence on professional commitment when nurses experienced the dual work affects simultaneously, work frustration significantly reduces the professional commitment effect of nurses. This study suggests that managers should not only construct a positive and exciting work environment but also work to mitigate the causes of work frustration to promote professional commitment and retention among nurses.