Motivational factors, job satisfaction and job stress among Omani medical laboratory scientists

Job satisfaction is a quality indicator that measures the cognitive and behavioral aspects of workers’ attitudes toward their job. A World Health Organization (WHO; 2013) report predicts that a world-wide shortfall of 12.9 million healthcare professionals (nurses, midwives, and doctors) will be faced by 2035. In order to promote the retention of healthcare workforce governments, health authorities and healthcare providers need to work on increasing job satisfaction, a strategy that also will increase the attractiveness of healthcare workplaces and support the recruitment of staff. No previous studies have been reported on Oman in addressing the factors behind job satisfaction among medical laboratory scientists. The lack of research on job satisfaction of this group of health professionals in Oman, together with the personal interest of the researcher, has prompted this study to explore sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction in the demanding fields of medical laboratories. This research aimed to study the job satisfaction, motivation, and stress of medical laboratory scientists. Content and process theories of job satisfaction and motivation were used to develop the theoretical framework of the study. The study was conducted at eight hospitals in Oman to assess motivational factors, job satisfaction and job stress and the association between these factors. The overall aim of this thesis is to explore factors affecting job satisfaction among medical laboratory scientists. A qualitative approach was used to investigate working conditions, conceptualized as job satisfaction (and dissatisfaction) and job stress among the target group (sub-studies I and II), and followed up by a survey study, based on the results of the qualitative studies, to explore measures of job satisfaction and stress and analyze possible associations between components of satisfaction and job stress (sub-study III). Results showed that the major factors affecting job satisfaction and causing dissatisfaction among medical laboratory professionals were workload, promotion, health and safety, relationships with supervisors, professional status (recognition and appreciation), and the hospital appraisal and job description system. Job stress is the de facto outcome of these dissatisfaction factors, and there is a negative correlation between job satisfaction and job stress. The most important dissatisfaction factors, which are related to stress, were insufficient support for professional