How to Satisfy and Retain Personnel Despite Job-Market Shortage : Multilevel Predictors of Nurses' Job Satisfaction and Intent to Leave

Retaining valuable employees is a major issue for organizations, especially for professions characterized by shortage (e.g., nursing). It is thus important for organizations to determine factors predicting personnel satisfaction and intent to leave at various levels (i.e., organization, group, and individual). Yet, few studies of satisfaction in nursing have analyzed a comprehensive set of factors taking into account multiple organizational levels using appropriate statistical analysis techniques. We conducted a study with 1,547 nurses working in 17 hospitals in Switzerland. Results from multilevel analyses suggest that job satisfaction is predicted by both individual-level (burnout and work-family conflict) and group-level (group cohesion and unit effectiveness) factors, while organizational-level factors (e.g., autonomy) have less impact. Moreover, intent to leave the job is predicted by job satisfaction, but the relationship is moderated by perceived differences in priorities between nurses and their employer. Organizational administrators should consider both individual-level and group-level factors when developing strategies to satisfy and retain key personnel, but also how to align priorities and how to best communicate what they have done