A HUMAN CAPITAL APPROACH TO MODELLING REGISTERED NURSE WAGES AND TURNOVER/RETENTION BEHAVIORS (LABOR MARKET).
Contributors: University of South Carolina.
Published: 1993
Number of pages: 283
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Economics, Labor.
Description: The present study used a human capital approach to investigate and model RN wages and RN turnover behavior. The effects of RN socio-demographic, professional, employment, and turnover/retention characteristics on RN wages, and the effects of socio-demographic, professional, employment, and economic factors on RN turnover behavior, were postulated. The study employed a secondary analysis of individual data from 15,324 registered nurses who participated in the 1988 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses.

Regression analyses revealed that RNs who were male, prepared at a higher level of nursing education, possessed more years of experience, earned continuing education credits, practiced in the hospital setting, held a management or advance practice position, worked in certain geographic regions of the country, or were employed in a major metropolitan area earned significantly higher wages than their RN counterparts. Further, RNs who were non-white, unmarried, employed part-time, employed through a temporary agency, or who had not changed jobs during the preceding year earned significantly higher wages than nurses who did not possess these characteristics or exhibit these behaviors.

Logistic regression was used to estimate separate internal, external, and overall turnover models, incorporating either household income or annual RN earnings variables. Study findings show: male RNs were more likely to have changed employers than females; non-caucasians were less likely to turnover than caucasians; nurses with fewer educational investments were less likely to turnover than RNs with greater educational investments; increasing years of nursing experience were associated with decreased nursing turnover; and RNs employed in hospitals were less likely to turnover externally than RNs employed in other settings. Turnover analyses revealed that increasing household income and RN earnings were both associated with decreased external turnover and increased internal turnover.

Study findings yield insight into the determinants of RN wages and turnover, and provide a basis for predicting the effects of modifying wage structures and practice environment variables. The knowledge gained from this study allows nursing leaders, administrators, and researchers to more fully understand the dynamics of the nursing labor market, and aids in policy formation, resource allocation, and service decision-making.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-04, Section: B, page: 1890.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1993.

School code: 0202.