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 development, poor relations with supervisors and coworkers, and heavy workload in the laboratories. Omanis were found to have higher job stress scores than non-Omanis, and younger laboratory personnel were more stressed and dissatisfied than older colleagues.

Important differences between the hospital types were observed. At the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, there was less satisfaction at work and, therefore, more stress than at the equivalent Ministry of Health hospitals. The findings of the sub-studies give a picture of what affects job satisfaction, dissatisfaction, motivation, demotivation, and stress among medical laboratory professionals, to be used to design human resource management strategies to deal with problems of dissatisfaction and job stress and thus support the recruitment and retention of this important group of healthcare staff. To provide intrinsic rewards and improving working conditions will be important actions. These insights are useful not only to healthcare managers but also to policymakers, government officials and health authorities.

List of scientific papers

I. Samira Alrawahi, Stina Fransson Sellgren, Nasar Alwahaibi, Salem Altouby, Mats Brommels. Factors affecting job satisfaction among medical laboratory technologists in University Hospital, Oman: An exploratory study. Int J Health Plann Mgmt. 2019. 34(1):e763–e775.
https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.2689

II. Samira Alrawahi, Stina Fransson Sellgren, Salem Altouby, Nasar Alwahaibi, Mats Brommels. The application of Herzberg's two-factor theory of motivation to job satisfaction in clinical laboratories in Omani hospitals. Heliyon. 2020. 6(9):e04829.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04829

III. Samira Alrawahi, Stina Fransson Sellgren, Salem Altouby, Nasar Alwahaibi, Mats Brommels. Stress and job satisfaction among medical laboratory professionals: A crosssectional study in Oman. [Manuscript]