Personal and environmental factors influencing career satisfaction and employee retention in rehabilitation organizations

Research Objectives: To investigate the influence of personal factors [orientation toward lifelong learning (OLLL) and resilience] and environmental factors [psychological need satisfaction at work (PNSW) and innovation support (InnSupp)] on career satisfaction (CarSat) and intent to stay (IntStay) in rehabilitation organizations. Mediating effects of organizational engagement (OrgEng) and professional engagement (ProfEng) were also investigated.

Design: Structural equation modeling using survey data

Setting: Post-acute rehabilitation settings (e.g., IRF, SNF, outpatient) from four healthcare organizations in the Southeast, Northeast, and Midwest

Participants: Rehabilitation providers (e.g., PT, OT, SLP, RN, MD)

Interventions: Not applicable

Main Outcome Measures: Greenhouse Career Satisfaction Scale and self-rated intention to stay

Results: Data fit for the model was acceptable (RMSEA=.060, SRMR=.061). PNSW had the strongest direct effect on CarSat (r=.330) and IntStay (r=.341) while OLLL had an inverse direct effect on CarSat (r=-.152) and IntStay (r=-.138). The effects of PNSW, InnSupp, and OLLL on IntStay were partially mediated by OrgEng with total effects of r=.461, r=.228, and r=-.092 respectively. The effects of PNSW and OLLL on CarSat were partially mediated by OrgEng with total effects of r=.450 and r=-.106 respectively. The effects of OLLL on CarSat were partially mediated by ProfEng with a total effect of r=-.031. OrgEng was most influenced by PNSW (r=.440) and InnSupp (r=.353) while ProfEng was most influenced by OLLL (r=.619). Resilience had weak effects on OrgEng (r=.170) and ProfEng (r=.117) and no direct effect on CarSat or IntStay.

Conclusions: Addressing rehabilitation professionals’ PNSW is important for increasing OrgEng, CarSat, and IntStay. Supporting ProfEng counteracts inverse effect of OLLL on CarSat. Understanding the relations between key personal and environmental factors, differing loci of engagement, and outcomes of interest can help rehabilitation organization leaders develop and retain a more effective workforce.

Author(s) Disclosures: None