PERCEIVED ROLE CONFLICT, ROLE AMBIGUITY, AND WORK SATISFACTION OF THE ARMY RESERVE NURSE.
Contributors: University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Published: 1991
Number of pages: 111
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purpose of this descriptive, exploratory study was to determine if there were correlations between six factors of work satisfaction (pay, autonomy, organization policies, task requirements, professional status, and interactions), role conflict, and role ambiguity with the activated Army Reserve nurse. Specific demographic variables were analyzed to ascertain if a predictive model could be established to determine career intentions. Subjects were randomly chosen and questionnaires mailed to their homes. The index of Work Satisfaction (IWS) (Stamps & Piedmonte, 1986) and the Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity Scale (Rizzo, House, & Lirtzman, 1970) were used for data collection.

Of the Army Reserve nurses who volunteered and served within the continental U.S. during Operational Desert Shield/Storm, 144 returned usable questionnaires. The majority were married women with no dependent children and an average age of 41 years. Military rank of the respondents was equally divided among company and field grade officers. The majority of these officers (66%) had less than 3 years prior active duty service, and 40.3% reported that they had no prior active service. When asked if they would volunteer again if called to serve, 20.1% (n = 29) stated that they would not. The IWS functioned well as an indicator of work satisfaction.

Stepwise multiple regression determined that overall satisfaction with the reserves and years of prior active service were the strongest variables for explaining variance in the intent to leave the reserves. Canonical correlations identified overall satisfaction with the reserves, rank, the IWS, years of prior active service, role conflict, and role ambiguity in descending order.

It is concluded that as role conflict and role ambiguity increase, work satisfaction decreases. Variables useful for predicting who will leave the reserves prior to retirement are overall satisfaction with the reserves, years of prior active service, and role conflict. Military educational opportunities allow for role clarification and are important; these may affect the degree of role conflict or role ambiguity experienced.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-02, Section: B, page: 0776.

Thesis (D.S.N.)--UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM, 1991.

School code: 0005.