Work engagement, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions among family medicine residency program managers

OBJECTIVES: The authors examined the associations between work engagement, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions among family medicine residency (FMR) managers. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional online survey of 511 FMR manager members of the Association of Family Medicine Administration using purposive sampling. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, Job Satisfaction Survey, and Boshoff and Allen’s 3-item scale were used to assess work engagement, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions respectively. Descriptive statistics, Chi-Square tests, Pearson’s correlations, 2-way contingency table analysis, and hierarchical regression analyses were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The response rate was 70.6% (389/551). Work engagement was positively correlated with job satisfaction (r([387])=.513, p<.001) and negatively correlated with turnover intentions (r([368])=.580, p<.001). Turnover intention was negatively correlated with job satisfaction (r([387])=-.690, p<.001). Positive assessment of nature of work (t([364])=15.06, p<.001), fringe benefits (t([364])=6.89, p<.001), communication (t([364])=2.27, p<.05), and promotion (t([364])=2.48, p<.05) predicted work engagement. Work engagement (t([364])=-4.31, p<.001), pay (t([364])=-3.71, p<.001), supervision (t([364])=-3.51, P<.01), contingent rewards (t([364])=-2.39, p<.05), nature of work (t([364])=-2.16, p<.05), and communication (t([364])=-2.15, p<.05) predicted turnover intentions. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate associations between work engagement, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. When medical residency managers are emotionally and cognitively engaged at work, they tend to remain in the organization, validating and rewarding organizations that foster employee engagement. Further studies are needed to establish a causal relationship between work engagement, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions and to investigate other potential factors that could contribute to enriching the job satisfaction of this crucial group of professionals.