THE MEDIATING ROLE OF NURSES' PROFESSIONAL COMMITMENT IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CORE SELF-EVALUATION AND JOB SATISFACTION

Objectives: The aim of this study has been to examine the degree to which it is possible to predict job satisfaction in hospital nurses based on core self-evaluation and the nurses' professional commitment. Psychological constructs of nurses' professional commitment could predict a level of job satisfaction. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional design was applied. Data was collected from 584 nurses of the University Hospital Osijek between April and November 2016. Core Self-Evaluation Scale (CSES), Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) and Nurses' Professional Commitment Scale (NPCS) were administrated to the study participants. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to test the validity of each questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was used for testing the prediction of nurses' professional commitment and core self-evaluation of job satisfaction. Nurses' professional commitment is variable, which functions as a mediator between predictor (core self-evaluation - CSE) and criterion variable (job satisfaction - JS). As a mediator, it explains what the effect is, provided that correlations among all variables are significant. Results: The correlation analyses reveal significant positive correlations between job satisfaction and core self-evaluation (r = 0.441, p > 0.001) as well as between job satisfaction and nurses' professional commitment (r = 0.464, p > 0.001). Furthermore, core self-evaluation significantly and positively correlates with nurses' professional commitment (r = 0.402, p > 0.001). The results have shown that nurses' professional commitment mediates the relationship between core self-evaluation and job satisfaction. The bootstrap analysis showed that core self-evaluation partially mediated the relationship between nurses' professional commitment and job satisfaction (beta = 0.78, p < 0.001**). The indirect effects of core self-evaluation on job satisfaction through nurses' professional commitment was also significant (beta = 0.17, p < 0.001**). Conclusions: Nurses who are more committed to their work, regardless of the structure of personality, have greater satisfaction in their work.