The Influence of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment on Intention to Leave of Nurse Educators.

The purpose of this study was to determine what factors influenced the intention of nurse educators to leave their current teaching positions at the university level in Louisiana. A simple random sample of 125 nurse educators employed full time in baccalaureate degree nursing programs were the study subjects. Respondents were 115 (92%) of the nurse educators. A four part instrument was used for data collection and analysis: Job Descriptive Index (JDI) and Job In General (JIG), Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ), Intention to Leave (ITL), and demographic information. Intention to Leave was a researcher developed instrument to measure intention to leave. The demographic information identified nurse educators\u27 individual and work-related characteristics. Factors which were found to be related to intention to leave included satisfaction with Job in General, present job, opportunities for promotion, pay, and supervision. Demographic factors which were found to be related to opportunities for promotion: years experience as a nurse, years in teacher retirement system, years as a nurse educator at their current university, status in retirement systems, tenure, and years experience as a nurse. All of these relationships were negative. The calculated coefficient between intention to leave and organizational commitment was r = $-$.23 (p =.01). Using multiple regression, a, model was found explaining a significant portion of the variance (35%) in Intention to Leave of nurse educators in Louisiana higher education. The eleven variables which entered the model included present job, pay, opportunities for promotion, number of years employed full-time in their current university, attempted scholarship, significant dependent others, successful scholarship, employment status, total years experience as a nurse educator, years in other retirement systems, and years in Teacher Retirement Systems. Nurse educators in Louisiana had a low level of job satisfaction for the component of pay and were satisfied with the other four components. Nurse educators with higher satisfaction with present job and opportunities for promotion tended to have lower intention to leave. It is recommended that a follow-up study be done to determine if actual turnover of nurse educators is related to intention to leave