Perceived dimensions of job satisfaction for staff registered nurses.

To measure the importance of dimensions of job satisfaction 144 females registered staff nurses in four East Coast metropolitan hospitals were given an 18-item Likert-type instrument. Results indicated that the traditional intrinsic/extrinsic dichotomy, which exists in elements of job satisfaction, did not apply. The nurses perceived their job satisfaction in a more complex fashion, in that four statistically independent dimensions emerged with "relationship orientations" accounting for almost 24 percent of the total variance. The study implies that previous considerations in job satisfaction for the professional may need to be reexamined in terms beyond the traditional in trinsic/extrinsic dichotomy.