The effect of attitude towards work on professional commitment

Abstract

Background: Professional commitment, which constitutes one of the criteria of the professionalisation process, is directly affected by attitude towards the work, constituting the content of nursing profession.

Aim: This study was conducted to determine the effect of nurses' attitudes towards work on their professional commitment.

Methods: This study is a cross-sectional and analytical study. The data were collected from 293 nurses working at different units in a public hospital between April 2019 and May 2019. The data collection tool includes a 10-question participant information form, the Nurses' Professional Commitment Scale and the Attitude Towards Work Scale. Variables were analysed using multiple linear regression.

Results: The nurses obtained high scores from overall professional commitment and attitude towards work scales and their subscales. Significant differences were found in the scale total and its subscales caused especially by the variables of professional experience, position, income level and the status of willingly choosing the profession (p < 0.05). Nursing professional commitment was predicted by 'content of the work', (β = 0.32, p < 0.01), 'working conditions' (β = 0.38, p < 0.01), 'co-workers' (β = 0.30, p < 0.01) and 'compensation' (β = 0.21, p < 0.01), which accounted for 25.6% of the variance in nursing professional commitment.

Ethical considerations: Ethics committee approval and institutional permissions were obtained. The participants were informed about the study and written consent was obtained.

Conclusions: The nurses who had an increasing duration of professional experience, were working in managerial position, found their income level sufficient and chose the profession willingly had higher professional commitment and attitudes towards work. In addition, a significant correlation was found between nurses' professional commitment and their attitudes towards work, and nurses' professional commitments were explained with their attitudes towards work. It is important to increase and strengthen the attitude towards work that affects nurses' professional commitments.

Keywords: Attitude; nursing; professional commitment; quantitative research; work.