Role issues, job satisfaction and unit of assignment

A prospective, descriptive study of role conflict and role ambiguity and its relationship to job satisfaction among a stratified, random sample of 100 registered nurses in an acute care setting is reported. Job satisfaction was measured using the Job-in-General scale developed by Smith and Ironson. Role conflict and role ambiguity were measured using the Nursing Index of Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity developed for use in this study. Both role conflict and role ambiguity were inversely related to job satisfaction, providing Pearson Project Moment correlations of -.48 (P less than .001) and -.38 (P less than .001), respectively. Additionally, perceptions of role conflict and role ambiguity were found to be greater among intensive care unit nurses. Management implications of these findings are discussed.