A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ROLE CONFLICT, ROLE AMBIGUITY, AND JOB SATISFACTION AMONG NURSE EDUCATORS (FACULTY, DISSATISFACTION)

Nurse educators are faced with the problems of changing role expectations that are unclear and conflicting, an increase in accountability, and threats to their job security. Such problems can affect the extent to which these educators can derive job satisfaction through the fulfillment of their professional needs. The purpose of this study is to examine nurse educators\u27 perceptions of role conflict and role ambiguity and to relate these to reported level of job satisfaction.^ The sample for this study was drawn from nursing faculty within NLN accredited baccalaureate programs of nursing across the six New England states. Two hundred eighty-five faculty members agreed to participate and complete the Job Descriptive Index (JDI) and Role Questionnaire (RQ). Demographic information was solicited with respect to age, sex, years of university teaching, level of education and present position.^ Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between the demographic variables, role conflict, role ambiguity and level of job satisfaction. A series of one-way multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to determine whether there was significant differences in the levels of job satisfaction, role conflict, role ambiguity among nurse educators when they were grouped on each demographic variable.^ Findings indicated that role ambiguity accounted for the greatest percentage of explained variance in all five facets of job satisfaction, after controlling for the effects of the demographic variables. Also, there was a significant negative relationship between all facets of job satisfaction and role conflict and role ambiguity. The five facets of job satisfaction did differentiate among faculty when grouped according to age, years of university teaching, level of education, and present position. With the exception of the variable age, role conflict and role ambiguity did differentiate among faculty when grouped according to years of university teaching, level of education, and present position. Specifically, the findings indicate that satisfaction with pay was the discriminating variable in all analyses, regardless of the demographic variables used to group faculty.^ Administrators within schools of nursing need to realize that positive faculty morale has a vast impact on educational programs. In light of this research, factors have been identified which would help decrease role conflict and role ambiguity, and thus, increase job satisfaction.