The association between nurses’ religiousness and job satisfaction

Purpose - This study aims to assess the effect of religiosity on the job satisfaction of nurses in response to the paucity of studies that have investigated this relationship in a health care setting. The authors also tested the moderation impact of materialism on the religiosity–satisfaction nexus. Design/methodology/approach - The quantitative (correlational) research technique was applied to test hypotheses of interest. The simple random sampling method was used to select a representative sample of 458 nurses. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine the factor structures of relevant constructs and to test hypotheses. The study’s ultimate CFA model produced a good fit at 5 per cent significance level [Chi-square (χ2) = 19.121;p = 0.454]. Findings - Religiosity was found to make a positive effect on job satisfaction and a negative effect on materialism. Materialism makes a negative effect on job satisfaction. Religiosity and materialism makes a significant negative interaction effect on nurses’ satisfaction after controlling for job income. Practical implications - It is therefore concluded that religiosity is a positive behaviour that contributes to the satisfaction of nurses, but materialism must be avoided or at least reduced to maximise this impact. Originality/value - In this study, the authors demonstrate that the positive effect of religiousness on job satisfaction can be negatively moderated by materialism so that religiousness makes less impact on satisfaction owing to the negative influence of materialism on job satisfaction.