HUMAN CAPITAL THEORY APPLIED TO DIFFERENTIAL PREPARATION IN NURSING EDUCATION (JOB MARKET, MANPOWER UTILIZATION, EARNINGS, EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES).
Contributors: Rutgers University.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 181
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The study problem was whether number of years of basic education produces commensurate financial rewards for nurses. The study purpose was exploration of a non-value-laden approach to solving the dilemma in nursing education, three educational routes for preparation of the beginning practitioner, in several states.

Literature review revealed Human Capital Theory which predicts that years of education are related to earnings. If this held true in nursing an economic resolution could be substituted for vested interest infighting.

The conceptual framework, utilizing Human Capital Theory, resulted in three predictions.

With the same number of years experience postgraduation: (I) Nurses whose basic education culminates in a baccalaureate nursing degree will receive higher salaries than nurses whose basic education was diploma or associate degree; (II) Basic baccalaureate nursing graduates will receive comparable salaries to those nurses whose basic education was diploma or associate degree and who later acquired a baccalaureate degree; and (III) Nurses whose basic education was a nursing baccalaureate will be more likely to advance in position than nurses whose basic education was diploma or associate degree.

The study sample numbered 10,354 New Jersey nurses meeting specific criteria. Data were obtained through a questionnaire and analyzed by the computer programs SPSS and SPSS('x). Hypothesis I was supported at a high level of statistical significance. Five additional independent variables (seniority, position, facility, specialty area, ethnicity) capable of affecting the relationship between years of education and salary were also analyzed. Hypothesis II was not supported for comparable salaries among the three basic educational types when diploma and associate degree graduates later acquired a baccalaureate in nursing, but was supported when they later acquired a baccalaureate in a nonnursing field. Hypothesis III was only supported for nurses with over 10 to 20 years of seniority.

Replications with a specifically designed instrument for eliciting required data for testing the study hypotheses among the same three groups of nurses are recommended. If repeated replications duplicate this study's findings, the nursing profession may be enabled to agree on one route to education for its beginning practitioners.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-03, Section: B, page: 0793.

Thesis (ED.D.)--RUTGERS THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY - NEW BRUNSWICK, 1985.

School code: 0190.