ArticleGlobal health action2013
Comparing the job satisfaction and intention to leave of different categories of health workers in Tanzania, Malawi, and South Africa.
Article in Global health action, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 99 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
99 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Health extension workers job satisfaction and associated factors in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC health services research · 2025Pooled it
- Job satisfaction and its correlation with pharmacists' performance and patient trust.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Turnover intention and its associated factors among nurses in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC health services research · 2024Pooled it
- Exploring the influence of trust relationships on motivation in the health sector: a systematic review.Human resources for health · 2015Pooled it
- Job Satisfaction Among Methadone Maintenance Treatment Clinic Service Providers in Jiangsu, China: A Cross-sectional Survey.Journal of addiction medicineTrial
- A descriptive analysis of the Fire service Organizational Culture of Safety (FOCUS) survey: FOCUS 3.0 survey wave.Injury epidemiology · 2026Article
- Factors Affecting Job Satisfaction Among Diagnostic Radiography Technologists in Kuwait: A Mixed-Methods Research Study.Radiology research and practice · 2026Article
- Patient complaints on nurse job satisfaction in primary health care clinics, Ehlanzeni District, South Africa.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2025Article
- Development and Psychometric Validation of the Health Professionals' Job Satisfaction Scale.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Job satisfaction, work commitment, and intention to leave among cardiac technologists in Saudi Arabia.Preventive medicine reports · 2025Article
- Level of job satisfaction and its associated factors among midwives working in public health institutions, Northwest Ethiopia: a multi-center study.BMC research notes · 2025Article
- Leadership and job satisfaction among physicians in the Cyprus public healthcare system.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Predictors of Health-Workforce Job Satisfaction in Primary Care Settings: Insights from a Cross-Sectional Multi-Country Study in Eight African Countries.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Effect of differentiated service delivery models for HIV treatment on healthcare providers' job satisfaction and workloads in sub-Saharan Africa: a mixed methods study from Malawi, Zambia, and South Africa.Human resources for health · 2025Article
- Effects of Psychosocial and Ergonomic Risk Perceptions in the Hospital Environment on Employee Health, Job Performance, and Absenteeism.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Burnout among South African nurses during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic: a holistic investigation.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Work motivation and associated factors among nurses working in public hospitals of the Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia.Frontiers in health services · 2025Article
- Job satisfaction and associated factors among rural health extension workers in Buno Bedele Zone South West Ethiopia.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Mixed method evaluation of a learning from excellence programme for community health workers in Neno, Malawi.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Healthcare setting staff satisfaction in Ethiopia: Systematic review and meta-analysis.Public health challenges · 2024Review
39 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundJob satisfaction is an important determinant of health worker motivation, retention, and performance, all of which are critical to improving the functioning of health systems in low- and middle-income countries. A number of small-scale surveys have measured the job satisfaction and intention to leave of individual health worker cadres in different settings, but there are few multi-country and multi-cadre comparative studies.
objectiveThe objective of this study was to compare the job satisfaction and intention to leave of different categories of health workers in Tanzania, Malawi, and South Africa.
methodsWe undertook a cross-sectional survey of a stratified cluster sample of 2,220 health workers, 564 from Tanzania, 939 from Malawi, and 717 from South Africa. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire, which included demographic information, a 10-item job satisfaction scale, and one question on intention to leave. Multiple regression was used to identify significant predictors of job satisfaction and intention to leave.
resultsThere were statistically significant differences in job satisfaction and intention to leave between the three countries. Approximately 52.1% of health workers in South Africa were satisfied with their jobs compared to 71% from Malawi and 82.6% from Tanzania (χ2=140.3, p<0.001). 18.8% of health workers in Tanzania and 26.5% in Malawi indicated that they were actively seeking employment elsewhere, compared to 41.4% in South Africa (χ2=83.5, p<0.001). The country differences were confirmed by multiple regression. The study also confirmed that job satisfaction is statistically related to intention to leave.
conclusionsWe have shown differences in the levels of job satisfaction and intention to leave between different groups of health workers from Tanzania, Malawi, and South Africa. Our results caution against generalising about the effectiveness of interventions in different contexts and highlight the need for less standardised and more targeted HRH strategies than has been practised to date.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.