Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to clarify the factors relating to affective commitment to organization (AC) depending on the years of nursing experience. High scores for affective commitment to the organization are indicative of a low turnover and high quality organizational performance.
Methods: The subjects were 1,302 non-managerial nurses working in three public hospitals located in Kanto area. The items surveyed include affective organizational commitment scales, superior and coworker support scales, and 21 items made by the authors.
Results: Five hundred and fourteen nurses responded (39.5% response rate), 510 questionnaires were analyzed. Multiple regression analysis shows that each category of nursing experience (less than one year, one to five years, more than five years), AC correlated with different predictors. Less than one year of nursing experience, AC correlated with [job contentment] and [organizational justice]. One to five years of nursing experience, AC correlated with [evaluation of the hospital], [opportunities for skill development] and [evaluation of workload and allowance]. Nurses with more than five years experience, AC correlated positively with [superior support], [evaluation of the hospital], [marital status] and [age].
Conclusion: These findings show the importance of taking care of nurses at differing years of nursing experience in order to enhance nurses' affective commitment to the organization.
