[Relationship Between Personality Traits and Quality of Work Life in Nurses]

Quality of work life (QWL) serves as a basis for human resource management and policy formulation in clinical practice. Personality traits may influence how nurses perceive their work environment which, in turn, may affect their job satisfaction and retention. However, few studies in the literature have explored the relationship between personality traits and QWL.

This study was designed to investigate and clarify the relationship between personality traits and QWL in clinical nurses.

A cross-sectional and correlation design was used, and data from clinical nurses (n = 329) were collected using a web-based survey via snowball sampling between October and November 2023. Nurses working full-time at hospitals in southern Taiwan and who were willing to participate in the study were enrolled as participants. The survey included a demographics datasheet, the Traditional Chinese Version of Big-Five Mini-Markers, and the Taiwanese-Version of the Work-Related Quality of Life Scale.

The mean QWL score was 3.22 (SD = 0.59), with females scoring significantly higher than males (p < .04). The three personality traits of extraversion (β = 0.22, ∆R² = 7.1%), conscientiousness (β = 0.17, ∆R² = 2.7%), and emotional stability (β = 0.15, ∆R² = 1.9%) were identified as significant predictors of QWL, explaining 11.7% of the total variance.

Nursing managers should understand the influence of different personality traits on QWL when designing and implementing strategies to improve QWL in their nursing staff. Also, nursing managers may consider personality traits and QWL when recruiting and training nursing staff. Based on the results of this study, nursing managers should develop strategies to enhance competencies and foster positive attitudes as well as appropriately adjust work roles for nurses who tend to be introverted, less conscientious, or emotionally sensitive to improve their QWL. In addition, nursing managers should integrate personality traits with organizational factors to establish a foundation for human resource management and policy formulation in clinical practice.