Job Satisfaction Among Nurses in the Republic of Croatia

Background: Job satisfaction can be defi ned as a feeling offulfi lment or happiness related to all or specifi c aspects of work.It is generally assessed through certain job characteristicssuch as compensation, benefi ts, interpersonal relationships,and work organization. Employee dissatisfaction can leadto burnout syndrome as well as other mental and physicalillnesses that negatively affect their quality of life.Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the degree ofjob satisfaction amongst nurses at primary, secondary andtertiary level of healthcare in the Republic of Croatia.Methods: The study was conducted using an online surveydistributed to respondents via social media and email. TheJob Satisfaction Survey (JSS), with 36 items and nine facetscreated by Spector P.E., was used to assess job satisfactionamongst nurses. We added six sociodemographic items tothis survey.Results: A total of 372 nurses participated in this study. Thehighest score was obtained for the facet nature of work (M =16.4; SD = 3.3) and lowest for pay (M = 9.3; SD = 3.4). Only10% of respondents reported overall job satisfaction, 54%were ambivalent, and 36% expressed dissatisfaction. Therewas no statistical difference between job satisfaction and thelevel of education (P > 0.05). More than 50% of participantswere dissatisfi ed with pay, promotion and fringe benefi ts (P< 0.001) while 56% of participants felt that their work was notadequately appreciated.Conclusion: Considering the results obtained from this study,we conclude that many nurses in the Republic of Croatiaare quite dissatisfi ed in some facets of their job such as pay,promotion and benefi ts and satisfi ed or ambivalent in otherssuch as job characteristics or supervisors. It’s important toconduct job satisfaction studies and investigate the causes ofdissatisfaction at a national level, involving a larger numberof healthcare nurses, to proactively infl uence and prevent theconsequences of dissatisfaction.