Abstract

The interrelatedness of nurses' career commitment and job performance is debated. In nursing, few studies have focused on the relationship between the two concepts. A convenience sample of 640 registered nurses (RNs) from 24 hospitals was recruited. A comparative design was used to assess differences among governmental, teaching and private hospitals in regard to the concepts measured.

In general, nurses were found to "agree" that they had a lifelong commitment to their careers, and that they were performing "well" their jobs in accordance with standards. Hospitals in the sample differed in most demographics except in gender, areas of work and decision-making styles. Based on the total scores of nurses' career commitment, there were no significant differences across hospitals. Based on the total scores of nurses' job performance, F-tests indicated some differences; the highest mean was at private hospitals. Using dimensional means of nurses' job performance uncovered no significant differences among hospitals. Individual items of nurses' job performance subscales differed, in some cases significantly, particularly for nurses working at private hospitals: nurses' career commitment was correlated positively and significantly with their job performance.

Consistent with the current researchers' hypothesis, nurses' career commitment appears to influence job performance and is influenced by the nurses' characteristics and organizational factors in the workplace. Enhancing nurses' career commitment and their job performance should produce positive outcomes for nurses, patients and organizations.