The impact of sociodemographic and professional characteristics with job satisfaction on nurses' professional commitment

ABSTRACT The Impact of Sociodemographic and Professional Characteristics with Job Satisfaction on Nurses' Professional Commitment This research was conducted to determine the level of job satisfaction and professional commitment of the nurses, the effects of sociodemographic and professional characteristics with job satisfaction on their professional commitment. This descriptive study was done at a University Hospital in 2017. The survey sample consisted of 539 nurses. For data collection purposes, questions for determining socio-demographic and professional characteristics were used; to determine job satisfaction levels, "Developed Job Description Index (DJDI)" was used, to determine professional commitment levels, "Nursing Professional Commitment Scale (NPCS)" was used. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews. The collected data were analyzed with using descriptive statistics, t-test, variance analysis, Kruskal Wallis, Tukey HSD and Bonferroni correction Mann Whitney U and Pearson Correlation analyzes using the SPSS Statistics 21.0 program. It was determined that the average of job satisfaction scores of the nurses in the study group was 144.49 ± 20.90 and the average of professional commitment scores was 74.66 ± 13.21. There was a positive, weak and significant relationship between job satisfaction, salary, commitment and trust to the institution and professional commitment. It was observed that there was an advanced difference among their professional commitment in terms of the unit where they work and their voluntarily choice about profession; there was higher difference among their professional commitment in terms of working styles and working status at official holidays; further there was a significant difference among their professional commitment related with their gender and their educational status. As the working hours of nurses increased in a daily basis or at weekends, it was determined that their professional commitment decreased. In conclusion, job satisfaction and professional commitment of participating nurses were on the average. Job satisfaction, genders, educational situations, units of work, workshifts, working conditions at official holidays, choosing the profession willingly, ages, professional and institutional experience periods, daily and weekend working hours were effective in their professional commitment. Keywords: Nursing, Sociodemographic Characteristics, Professional Characteristics, Professional Commitment, Job Satisfaction.