A causal model for the quality of nursing work life among professional nurses in public hospitals, Thailand

Abstract

This cross-sectional study aimed to develop and test causal relationships between transformational leadership, job characteristics, organizational climate, job satisfaction, and quality of nursing work life among professional nurses in Thailand. The hypothesized model was conducted based on Kanter’s theory of structural empowerment. A multi-stage sampling technique was utilized to recruit 392 Thai professional nurses from 22 hospitals who met the inclusion criteria. Research instruments consisted of demographic data form, Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, Job Content Questionnaire, Organizational Climate Questionnaire, Nurses’ Job Satisfaction Scale, and the Thai version of Brooks’ Quality of Nursing Work Life survey. The validity of all instruments was reassessed by five experts. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of each instrument was 0.96, 0.87, 0.81, 0.88, and 0.93 respectively. The developed model was examined by a structural equation modeling using SPSS and LISREL program.

The result findings revealed that the final model (consisted of transformational leadership, job characteristics, organizational climate, and job satisfaction) explained 72% quality of nursing work life variance X2= 754.88, df = 487, p = 0.06172, GFI = 0.94, X2/df = 1.550, AGFI = 0.91, CFI = 1.00, RMSEA = 0.021, RMR = 0.022, CN = 872.15. Job characteristic was the most influential factor affecting the quality of nursing work life by having a positive direct effect on the quality of nursing work life (β = 0.97, p < .01), followed by transformational leadership had a positive both direct and indirect effect on the quality of nursing work life through job characteristic, organizational climate, and job satisfaction (β = .93, p < .01), Moreover, the organizational climate had a positive both direct and indirect effect on the quality of nursing work life through job satisfaction (β = 0.51, p < .01). Besides, job satisfaction had a positive direct effect on the quality of nursing work life (β = 0.42, p < .01) respectively, policymakers and nurse administrators should provide a healthy environment to improve professional nurses’ quality of nursing work life by enhancing transformational leadership among head nurses and providing proper job characteristics, organizational climate, and job satisfaction.