Comparison of Individual Innovation Characteristics and Job Satisfaction of Academian Nurses According to Generations

Abstract

The aim of this study is to compare the individual innovativeness levels and job satisfactions of academician nurses at the university according to generations. This analytical-cross-sectional study was conducted with academician nurses working in faculties of health sciences and nursing faculties of state/foundation universities in our country between September 2018 and February 2019. The sample group consisted of 148 academician nurses who were selected by the improbable random sampling method, met the criteria for participation in the study, agreed to participate in the study, and filled out the online data collection forms completely. In data collection, the “Introductory Form” containing the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants, the “Individual Innovation Scale” (IIS) and the “Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire” (MSQ); descriptive statistics, Kruskall Wallis and Mann Whitney U test were used in the analysis of the data. Majority of the participants were women (94.6%), married (62.8%) and Y generation (79.7%) individuals. While the participants IIS score average was 74.81±8.82; the mean MSQ score was 3.74±0.56. As a result, academician nurses' individual innovativeness levels were found to be at the "pioneer" level and male academicians' openness to experience sub-dimension scores were higher. Professors' general satisfaction and intrinsic satisfaction scores from the MSQ sub-dimensions are significantly higher. It was determined that the job satisfaction levels of the Y generation academician nurses were lower than the X generation academician nurses. Accordingly, it is thought that it would be beneficial to plan initiatives to improve the individual innovativeness of academic nurses and increase their job satisfaction, and to consider generational characteristics during these planning.