Influence of Work Stress on Employee Retention: Case of Nursing

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop and test a framework which examined the consequences of job stress and its, impact on employee retention of female nurses from public sector hospitals of Islamabad, Pakistan. The study was quantitative in nature and conducted among 215 nurses who were selected by using simple random and convenience sampling technique. Moreover, Data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire. Data analysis was done by using SPSS 21 and applied regression, co-relation and reliability analysis were used for obtaining results. The results of the study demonstrate a significant negative relationship between job stress and employee retention. In addition, similar correlations results have found between works overload and work ambiguity. However, there is a positive correlation of work environment with employee retention. Further, this research study contributes to numerous agencies and organizations serving humans and deal with work stress issues. The nature of research conducted is descriptive and cross - sectional. Efforts have been made to dig out the root causes of job stress of nursing staff and its effect on employee retention. Moreover, the study contributed to researcher and prior theory by describing the effect of stress on employee retention and suggested strategies for retaining employees and controlling stress. . The research approach used in this study is deductive approach as it starts with a specific hypothesis development based on the literature review that has been observed by the researcher, and gradually attempts to test this hypothesis and check if it holds in particular contexts. The findings also suggest that tough conditions of nurses are felt more severely among the public sector hospital’s nurses. Strategies are suggested based on findings on how to diminish job stress and retain employees in a health care sector. As future recommendations this research suggests expanded work stress as it is the foremost amongst dynamic organizations of new generation. Another research recommendation is assessing the participants for other factors such as burnout in nursing, motivation, problem solving recognition, and self-efficacy