Improving Nurse Retention in the British National Health Service: The Impact of Job Satisfaction on Intentions to Quit

44 Pages Posted: 3 May 2000

See all articles by Michael A. Shields

Michael A. Shields

University of Melbourne - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Melanie E. Ward-Warmedinger

European Commission; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; European Central Bank (ECB); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Date Written: February 2000

Abstract

In recent years the National Health Service (NHS) in Britain has experienced an acute shortage of qualified nurses. This has placed issues of recruitment and retention in the profession high on the political agenda. In this paper we investigate the determinants of job satisfaction for nurses, and establish the importance of job satisfaction in determining nurses' intentions to quit the NHS. We find that nurses who report overall dissatisfaction with their jobs have a 65% higher probability of intending to quit than those reporting to be satisfied. However, dissatisfaction with promotion and training opportunities are found to have a stronger impact than workload or pay. Recent policies, which focus heavily on improving the pay of all NHS nurses will only have limited success unless they are accompanied by improved promotion and training opportunities. Better retention will, in turn, lead to reduced workload.

JEL Classification: J45, J63, I18

Suggested Citation

Shields, Michael A. and Ward-Warmedinger, Melanie E., Improving Nurse Retention in the British National Health Service: The Impact of Job Satisfaction on Intentions to Quit (February 2000). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=224216 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.224216

Michael A. Shields (Contact Author)

University of Melbourne - Department of Economics ( email )

Victoria 3010, 3010
Australia
+61 3 8344 4656 (Phone)
+61 3 8344 6899 (Fax)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Melanie E. Ward-Warmedinger

European Commission ( email )

BU-1 05/190
Brussels, Bruxelles B-1049
Belgium

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

European Central Bank (ECB) ( email )

Sonnemannstrasse 22
Frankfurt am Main, 60314
Germany

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

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