The Relationship between Organizational Happiness and Job Motivation with Turnover Intention of Health Centers Staff
Ali Sadeghi a
, Azam Alavi b* ![](./files/site1/images/Capture.PNG)
a Department of Health Services Management, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran.
b Department of Nursing, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran.
A R T I C L E I N F O |
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A B S T R A C T |
ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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Background: Understanding the factors affecting turnover intention as one of the challenges of health care organizations is vital to retain employees. This study aims to investigate the relationship between organizational happiness and job motivation with turnover intention of health centers staff.
Methods: This descriptive-analytical correlational study was conducted on 148 employees of health centers according to Cochran formula by convenience sampling method in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province in the first half of 2020. Data were collected using three standard questionnaires including organizational happiness, Herzberg's job motivation questionnaire (1959), and turnover intention. Statistical analyses were done by descriptive and analytical statistics using SPSS v.24.
Results: There was a significant relationship between the mean score of organizational happiness and job motivation with turnover intention (P < 0.001). A significant relationship was also found between the mean score of employees' organizational happiness and turnover intention (r = 0.506 ،p > 0.001). The results showed a significant relationship between the mean score of employees' job motivation with turnover intention (r = 0.506 ، p > 0.001).
Conclusion: Organizational happiness and job motivation are directly and positively related to turnover intention. It is suggested that relevant authorities strengthen the areas of fostering organizational happiness and job motivation of health workers to provide a stronger basis to reduce their turnover intention.
Keywords: Organizational, Happiness, Motivation, Turnover Intention |
Article History:
Received: 09 Aug 2023
Revised: 30 Oct 2023
Accepted: 02 Nov 2023 |
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*Corresponding Author:
Azam Alavi
Email:
azam_alavi92@yahoo.com
Tel: +98 38 33361003
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Citation:
Sadeghi A, Alavi A. The Relationship between Organizational Happiness and Job Motivation with Turnover Intention of Health Centers Staff. Journal of Social Behavior and Community Health (JSBCH). 2023; 7(2): 1217-1224.
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Introduction
Human resources are the most strategic and important sources in the health system (Farajzadeh & Nasiri, 2022). One of the topics of interest in human resource management is providing employees' needs to motivate them to enhance the quality of their work and utilize more human resources in the organization. Providing the motivation needed to do the job and paying attention to the motivational forces of employees is one of the most important and complex tasks of managers, including the management of health care staff (Dehghan kolash et al., 2022; omidi et al., 2017). Motivation is one of the most important tools in inducing employees to achieve effective and efficient results and creating a positive work environment and successful implementation of anticipated programs (Hasanian et al., 2019; Vafadar et al., 2017). Motivation is a behavioral, emotional, and cognitive process that encourages employees to meet the goals of the organization (Choobdari et al., 2021). Organizing motivation refers to internal processes that stimulate behavior and lead it to the ways that benefit the organization (Bahmani et al., 2019). Job motivation can be considered as a process that determines the intensity, direction and continuity of one's effort to achieve a goal and orientation to one's behavior in the organization, and also the level of effort and stability against obstacles (Hossieni & Soltani, 2017). On the other hand, motivation has an important impact on the outcome of human activities and is one of the most important factors affecting environmental and job satisfaction in employees and occupational outcomes (Bahmani et al., 2019).
Organizational happiness is an emerging concept in organizational behavior management. This concept relies on the fundamental fact that happy work environment encourages employees and has a positive impact on their attitude and productivity (Bayati & Alavi, 2019). In fact, Organizational happiness is the multifaceted concept and represents the welfare of individuals and mental and physical health (Morshedi Tonekaboni, 2019). Organizational happiness in the workplace is achieved when individuals use their abilities and talents to achieve their business goals (Khodaparast & Bagherzadeh, 2021). Happiness at work has long-term effects on the staff and organizations. Employees with professional happiness are more sensitive about opportunities in the workplace and are more useful for their colleagues. They are more optimistic and have more confidence and these features are positive and productive for the organization (Ghandehari et al., 2023). On the other hand, there are symptoms of depression, negative emotions, and psychiatric emotions in some organizations that can lead to consequences such as reducing employee efficiency, absenteeism, and abandonment of employees (Kahkhaie et al., 2017).
Employees’ turnover has a lot of direct and indirect consequences and costs for the health system and is recognized as a problem in providing health care and access to services (Moghri et al., 2022). The important factor in the development of societies today is human force and organizations make a lot of investment to retain their employees. However, many people leave their career. A person's understanding of the profession abandonment, despite being at work, is called a "turnover intention" (Graminejad et al., 2020). The tendency to leave the service is defined as the informed and deliberate tendency of employees to leave their works (Akgunduz & Eryilmaz, 2018). The desire to leave the service as a mental possibility is an issue that a person will change his job over a certain period of time and one of the main prerequisites of leaving real service, actually refers to one's mental evaluation of the possibility of staying or leaving the organization in the near future (Farahbod et al., 2018). Turnover intention for organizations is expensive, since a lot of resources have been spent on training those who are leaving the organization (Soltani et al., 2017). The success or failure of the organization largely depends on its ability to retain its employees (Sharifi et al., 2016). The subject of turnover intention has become one of the most important topics in the field of human resource management. On the other hand, health care provider organizations are highly dependent on the number and composition of employees. The challenge of leaving health organizations is of particular importance due to the growing demand for health care (Moghri et al., 2022). Many factors affect turnover intention of employees, knowing them is vital to retain the employees. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the relationship between organizational happiness and job motivation with turnover intention of health centers staff.
Methods
This correlational descriptive study was conducted on 148 employees of health centers of Shahrekord city in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province in the first half of 2020 by census method. The volume of statistical society was about 240. The inclusion criteria were having at least an associate degree, one year of work experience with contractual and formal recruitment, and desire to participate in the study. The excluding criteria were incomplete questionnaires and the unwillingness to complete the questionnaire. After receiving a letter from Islamic Azad University of Shahrekord Branch and referring to the Vice President of Research and Technology of Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences and the head of Shahrekord Health Center, the questionnaires were distributed. Before starting, the subject, the method of implementation, and the purpose of the study were explained to the participants and informed consent was obtained. It was also assured that private and personal information of the volunteers would be kept confidential.
Data collection tools included three standard questionnaires. Turnover intention questionnaire of Kim et al. (2007), had 15 items with a five-point Likert scale (one to 5 (‘too much’ to ‘very little’)), in which higher scores indicated greater tendency to leave service and vice versa. The validity and reliability of this questionnaire has been confirmed and Cronbach's alpha was 0.82. Herzberg's job motivation questionnaire (1959) had 40 items based on a five-point Likert scale (from ‘I fully agree’ to ‘completely disagree’), in which higher scores indicated greater tendency to leave service and vice versa. The validity and reliability of this questionnaire has been approved by many Iranian research studies and in the study of Hassanian et al., the internal reliability of this tool was approved by Cronbach's alpha of 0.97 (Hasanian et al., 2019).
The Organizational Happiness Questionnaire (Corolph, 2007) contained 23 items based on a five-point Likert scale (one to 5 (‘too much’ to ‘very little), in which higher scores indicates better organizational happiness. The reliability and validity of this questionnaire has been approved in Iran and Cronbach's alpha coefficient of this questionnaire has been reported 0.90 (Arabshahi & Ebrahimi Zanganeh, 2023).
Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistical tests (Pearson correlation, regression coefficient) using SPSS software ver. 24.
This study was conducted in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of Falavarjan Islamic Azad University.
Results
Data analysis showed that 87 subjects (58.79 %) were female and 61 subjects (41.21%) were male. The majority of the samples (65 subjects (43.92 %)) were in the age range of 36-40, and 57 subjects (38.51 %) had a work experience of 6-10 years. Most of the subjects (104 (52.88)) had undergraduate degrees, Table 1.
Table 1. Demographic characteristics of participants |
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|
Frequency |
Percent |
Age |
< 30Years |
23 |
15.54 |
31-35 |
37 |
25/0 |
36-40 |
65 |
43.92 |
> 40 |
23 |
15.54 |
Years of work experience |
1-5 |
39 |
26.36 |
6-10 |
57 |
38.51 |
11-15 |
37 |
25 |
> 15 |
15 |
10.13 |
Education |
Associate |
48 |
32.44 |
BSN |
60 |
40.54 |
MSc |
40 |
27.1 |
Sex |
Male |
61 |
41.21 |
Female |
87 |
58.79 |
The mean score of turnover intention of health centers staff was 42.87 ± 12.72. Their mean score of job motivation was 100.54 ± 32.21 and mean score of organizational happiness was 71.94 ± 19.74.
The results of Kolmogorov-Smirnov test showed that data had normal distribution. The results of Pearson correlation test demonstrated that there was a significant relationship between the mean score of employees' organizational happiness and turnover intention (r = - 0.506, p < 0.001). A significant relationship was also observed between the mean score of employees' job motivation and turnover intention (r = - 0.506, p < 0.001), Table 2.
Table 2. Correlation coefficient between organizational happiness and job motivation with turnover intention of health centers staff |
Organizational happiness |
Job motivation |
|
148 |
148 |
N |
Turnover intention |
-0/506 |
-0.506 |
Pearson correlation |
0 < 001 |
0 < 001 |
P |
The results of regression analysis indicated a strong correlation (0.542) between variables. These two variables of organizational happiness and job motivation were able to predict turnover intention of health centers staff. Moreover, the variable of organizational happiness (0.290) compared to employees' job motivation (0.284) was more connected to turnover intention of health centers staff and was a stronger predictor, Table 3.
Table 3. Regression coefficient between organizational happiness and job motivation with turnover intention of health centers staff |
|
Sig |
Std. Error |
Standardized coefficients |
B |
|
|
0/001 |
3.39 |
- |
67.81 |
Fixed Coefficient |
|
0.006 |
0.068 |
-0.290 |
- 0.187 |
Organizational happiness |
|
0.007 |
0.041 |
-0.284 |
- 0.114 |
Job motivation |
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R = 0.452 R2 = 0.293 ADJR2 = 0.284 |
The results of the present study showed that there was a negative and significant relationship between organizational happiness and job motivation with turnover intention of health centers staff. The two variables of organizational happiness and job motivation could predict turnover intention. In this regard, the results of Wang et al. (2019) showed that there was a significant negative relationship between nurses internal motivation and the tendency to leave nursing profession (Wang et al., 2019). Also, the study of Mustafa et al. (2019) indicated that motivation development in employees by increasing competence and encouragement had a negative association with turnover intention (Mustafa & Ali, 2019). In addition, the study of Chegini et al. (2019) showed that job motivation was one of the predictors of the tendency to leave nursing profession (Chegini et al., 2019). Ayalew et al. in their study confirmed that one of the factors affecting the intention of leaving nursing profession in Ethiopia was low payment as one of the motivational factors (Ayalew et al., 2015). Chiat et al. (2019) in a systematic review study, reviewed and approved the relationship between Herzberg's two-factor motivational factors and the desire to leave the profession (Chiat & Panatik, 2019), which is in line with the results of the present study. However, these motivational factors are different in European and Asian countries. It can be stated that motivation is directly correlated with performance and loyalty of health workers to the goals of the organization and reduces the tendency to leave the profession.
The findings of the study also showed that organizational happiness is negatively and significantly associated with the tendency to leave the profession. The study of Ali et al. (2019) showed that occupational happiness has a positive relationship with job performance and a negative relationship with the desire to leave the profession (Al-Ali et al., 2019). The study of Wahyanto et al. (2017) indicated that there was a positive relationship between happiness and enthusiasm of caring hospital staff and job enthusiasm had a positive and significant relationship with the intention of hospital staff to stay in the profession (Wahyanto et al., 2019). The results of the study by Charles et al. (2023) on 937 employees in the United States showed that happiness at work reduces the desire and effort of employees to leave the profession (Charles-Leija et al., 2023). In this regard, Vaezi et al. (2019) reported that there was a positive relationship between professional happiness and job success and between professional happiness and professional satisfaction and flexibility of human resources. There was also a negative and significant relationship between professional happiness and tendency to leave the profession (Vaezi et al., 2019). Kathleen et al. (2019) reported that there was a negative relationship between job satisfaction and happiness with the desire to leave the profession (Park & Johnson, 2019). Memon et al. (2021) stated that there was a negative and significant relationship between job passion and desire to leave the profession (Memon et al., 2021), which is consistent with the results of the present study.
Professional happiness is considered to be an effective phenomenon in reducing depression and abandonment and as a result, it reinforces one's interest in the organization. In general, in the workplace, where the staff feel that can use all their power and energy and fulfill working conditions, a positive atmosphere emerges in the organization to attract and retain them (Ghandehari et al., 2023). Vivacious people respond more appropriately to events and their safety system is stronger than those who have very poor happiness. In fact, happiness increases success by creating positive emotions in employees and employees with positive emotions are more likely to be present in new situations and conditions and are more effectively involved at work (Morshedi Tonekaboni, 2019). In fact, happy people have more self-esteem, control, and optimism about the future. In their duties, they imagine themselves more capable, more successful, and efficient (Ghandehari et al., 2023). Therefore, organizational happiness will lead to less job burnout, less job stress, increased job satisfaction, organizational belonging, and less turnover intention (Arabshahi & Ebrahimi Zanganeh, 2023).
In explaining the results, it can be stated that paying attention to employees’ happiness in the organization and providing conditions for happiness to employees is an effective and reliable way to achieve employees' mental health. Organizations need to be able to attract, retain, and protect the resources of intersection in order to achieve their goals.
There were limitations in conducting this research. This study was conducted with non-random sampling method and necessary precautions must be made to generalize the results to other groups and cities. In addition, the present study also faced methodological restriction, since the correlation of the present study method and the inference of the cause and effect was restricted.
Conclusion
Organizational vitality and job motivation are good predictors for turnover intention. Therefore, its discrepancy and several perceptions of the level of job motivation and organizational vitality in health organizations are increasingly prominent. A sense of motivation and joy in the workplace is necessary and the role of managers in creating a happy work place is of great importance. Therefore, it is suggested that the human capital management of the university increases the survival of the health workers by interventions and be involved in retaining health workers. By improving motivation and happiness at work place and designing job motivation systems and creating a happy atmosphere, the desire to leave the profession can be reduced and employees can be retained in the organization.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank the Deputy Director of Research and Technology of Islamic Azad University of Shahrekord for cooperation. They would also appreciate all the employees for their participation.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Funding
None
Ethical Considerations
This study was conducted in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of Falavarjan Islamic Azad University. Before starting, the subject, the method of implementation, and the purpose of the study were explained to the participants and informed consent was obtained. It was also assured that private and personal information of the volunteers would be kept confidential.
Code of Ethics
IR.IAU.FALA.REC.1397.007
Authors' Contribution
A. S and A. A, conceptualized the study; A. A, conducted methodology; A. S, made formal analysis; A. A, did the investigation; Y. H, did data curation; A. A, wrote the original draft; A. A, conducted review and editing; A. S, found resources, and A. A, did the supervision. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Open access policy
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