The effects of ownership, staffing level and organisational justice on nurse commitment, involvement, and satisfaction: a questionnaire study.

BACKGROUND

Elderly care systems have undergone a lot of changes in many European countries, including Finland. Most notably, the number of private for-profit firms has increased. Previous studies suggest that employee well-being and the quality of care might differ according to the ownership type.

OBJECTIVE

The present study examined whether the ownership type and the staffing level were associated with organisational commitment, job involvement, and job satisfaction. In addition, we examined the potential moderating effect of organisational justice on these associations.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional questionnaire study.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

1047 Finnish female staff members aged 18-69 years working in sheltered housing or nursing homes (units n=179).

METHODS

The relationships were studied with analyses of covariance (ANCOVA), adjusting for the effects of age and case-mix.

RESULTS

Organisational commitment and job satisfaction levels were low in for-profit sheltered homes when justice levels were low, but when justice levels were high, for-profit sheltered homes did not differ from other ownership types. Similarly, organisational justice acted as a buffer against low commitment resulting from low staffing levels. Staffing levels were lowest in public sheltered homes and highest in not-for-profit sheltered homes.

CONCLUSION

The results show that organisational justice can act as a buffer against low organisational commitment that results from low staffing levels and working in for-profit sheltered homes. Increasing justice in regard to the management, outcomes, and procedures in the organisation would thus be important.