Factors Influencing Morale of Professional Nurses in the Area of Three Southern Border Provinces

Abstract

Objective: The purposes of this descriptive research were: (1) to study achievement motivation, empowerment, transformational leadership of executives, and professional nurses’ morale in the area of three southern border provinces and (2) to identify the predictor variables of achievement motivation, empowerment, transformational leadership of executives on professional nurse’s morale in the area of three southern border provinces. Methods: The sample of this study was 120 professional nurses who worked in the general hospitals, Crown Prince hospital, community hospitals, and sub-district health promotion hospitals in the area of three southern border provinces, namely, Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani. They were recruited by multi-stage cluster sampling method. The research questionnaires composed of 5 sections. The second to fifth sections of the questionnaires which were validated by 5 experts. Data were analyzed by frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Pearson product-moment correlation and stepwise multiple regression analysis. Results: The major findings were as follows. (1) Professional nurses rated their overall empowerment, transformational leadership of executives, and professional nurse’s morale at the high levels, whereas they rated their overall achievement motivation at the moderate level. 2) Empowerment,
transformational leadership of executives, and achievement motivation could predict professional nurse morale in the three southern border provinces, and all of them accounted for 76.60 percent (R2 = .766, p < .001). Therefore, nursing administrators should recognize the importance of empowering professional nurses, promote self-development to be a transformational leadership and support career development in order to strengthen the morale of professional nurses in the three southern border provinces.