The demographic predictors of job satisfaction among the nurses of a major public hospital in KSA

OBJECTIVE: Nurses play fundamental roles in the delivery of health care services. Nurses' job satisfaction levels can have profound impacts on the quality of the care that they provide to patients. Accordingly, this study aimed to examine nurses’ levels of job satisfaction and the impact of key demographic variables on this variable. METHODS: Between April and May 2019, a quantitative cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in a major public hospital in KSA. The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire short form was completed by a sample of 382 nurses who had been recruited using systematic random sampling. The data were entered into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) spreadsheets and analysed using SPSS version 22. Demographic differences in mean satisfaction scores were examined using independent-samples t-test and analysis of variance. Finally, multiple linear regression analysis was conducted. RESULTS: Out of a total of 382 nurses who were invited to participate in this study, 337 responded (response rate = 88%), and almost 85% of them were Saudi nationals. Overall, 48% of the participants were satisfied, and only 22% of them were dissatisfied with their jobs. The participants were more satisfied with intrinsic than with extrinsic factors of a job. CONCLUSION: Most nurses reported moderate levels of overall job satisfaction. Greater job satisfaction was related to demographic factors such as sex (i.e. male), nationalilty (i.e. Saudi), and age (i.e. older). Job satisfaction was negatively correlated with higher salary. Age and salary predicted the outcome variable. Health care authorities should take more efforts to increase the job satisfaction of nurses in KSA.