Determinants of Malaysian Undergraduate Nurses’ Occupational Commitment

Abstract

Objectives: To explore factors that influenced the self-reported occupational commitment of Malaysian nurses to remain within the nursing profession upon completion of their undergraduate studies
Design: A one-level hypothetical model was formulated to identify which latent variables had direct and indirect influences on the Malaysian undergraduate nurses’ expectations to remain in the nursing profession
upon graduation.
Setting: A Malaysian university school of nursing
Participants: 172 undergraduate diploma nursing students
Method: Questionnaires including the use of Likert scales were used to capture demographic data and to estimate self-rated consensus and ability levels which measure occupational commitment to the nursing profession.
Results: Forty-one percent of the variance of the Malaysian undergraduate nurses’ occupational commitment scores was explained. The most significant predictor variables which had direct influence on self-consensus
for occupational commitment was their undergraduate stress levels, achievement grades and their concurrent beliefs about their transition roles as a beginning registered nurse. The variables of students’ age, qualifications, emotional intelligence, number of siblings and the number of persons residing at home exerted additional indirect effects on occupational commitment with the undergraduate student gender having no influence at all.