Effort and reward imbalance factors motivating Namibian professional nurses to participate in continuous professional development: A confirmatory factor analysis.

Tekla S.N Mbidi,Anneleen Damons

doi:10.4102/hsag.v25i0.1313

Abstract

BackgroundTo improve professional development, it is important to understand the motivational factors behind nurses’ participation in specific types of continuous professional development activities. Effort–rewards imbalance (ERI) posits an imbalance between high efforts spent at work and low rewards sometimes received in turn. However, professional nurses have various ERIs that can influence their reasons to participate in continuous professional development activities.AimThe purpose of this article was to propose a model for selected ERI factors, which motivate professional nurses to participate in continuous professional development activities.SettingTwo hundred and forty-one professional nurses working in a public national referral hospital in Namibia participated in the study.MethodsSurvey data on professional nurses’ reasons and motivations to participate in the professional development activities were analysed using a literature-based framework on ERI and reasons for participation in continuous professional development. The survey data were analysed for reflective relationships of ERI and reasons for participation in continuous professional development activities. A confirmatory factor analysis method using IBM SPSS AMOS version 23 was used to develop and validate the effort–reward motives for a continuous professional development model.ResultsFour effort-reward imbalance factors were derived from sixteen CPD motives. The reflective factors were (1) extrinsic efforts, (2) intrinsic efforts, (3) reward motives, and (4) over-commitment motives. The four conceptual factors made up a second-order effort-reward motives factor for the nurses’ reasons to take part in continuous professional development activities.ConclusionsThe results of this study show that professional nurses consider taking part in continuous professional development activities in order to carry out their work better but not as a way to increase chances of promotion. The study also concluded that the older professional nurses tend to have higher intrinsic effrot motivation than their younger counterparts. Thus, nurses could use these findings to understand the reasons which motivate them to develop professionally.

Highlights

Professional development is the active process enabling professional nurses to make progress in their nursing careers (Rahimaghaee, Nayeri & Mohammadi 2010)
Not much is known about the effort–reward imbalance (ERI) factors, which motivate nurses to participate in continuing professional development (CPD) activities
Four reflective factors were extracted from the 16 CPD motives using exploratory factor analysis (EFA)

Summary

Introduction

Professional development is the active process enabling professional nurses to make progress in their nursing careers (Rahimaghaee, Nayeri & Mohammadi 2010). Pool et al (2016) suggested that professional development is largely influenced by employees’ values, norms, attitudes and http://www.hsag.org.za competencies These values, norms and motives are influenced by their exposure to occupational stressors, such as high workloads, staff shortages, low promotion prospects, working with limited resources and sometimes by a lack of opportunities for career growth (Darboe, Lin & Kuo 2016). This article attempts to empirically measure the level of effort–reward factors amongst Namibian nurses and synthesises various studies on ERI and participation in CPD activities. This knowledge adds to the understanding of what motivates the nurses’ reasons to participate in professional development activities within an occupationally stressful environment. The study adopts Kluska et al.’s (2004) model and links it with Brekelmans et al.’s (2015) CPD motives

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