Building a sustainable management pipeline: Key predictors of nurse management aspirations in Ireland

Abstract

Background Against the backdrop of the shortages of nursing managers, this paper examines predictors of career aspirations among nurses in Ireland. Rather than viewing career aspirations as being determined solely by personal, job related or organizational factors we consider the individual nurse, within the context of their job, interacting with the overall organization and seek to ascertain how these factors are related to nurse’s career aspirations. Objective The objective of this study is to explore how personal, job-related, and organizational factors shape nurses’ career aspirations. The research question guiding this study is: “What variables relating to the individual, job or organization predict career aspirations among nurses?”. Design This cross-sectional study gathered questionnaire data from 263 nurses. Setting A large public hospital group in Ireland comprising 5 hospitals. Methods Pearson correlations provided an initial understanding of the bivariate relationships between scales measuring career aspirations and scales measuring resilience, job satisfaction, employee engagement, psychological safety, organizational citizenship behavior, and organizational commitment. Multivariate Linear Regression models examined factors independently associated with career aspirations. Results Correlational analysis identified statistically significant relationships between career aspirations and the individual, job and organizational scales, with resilience showing the strongest positive correlation (r = 0.418, p < 0.01). The Multivariate Linear Regression analysis identified having a postgraduate qualification (β = 2.92, 95% CI [1.38, 4.45], p < 0.001) and higher levels of resilience (β = 2.22, 95% CI [1.26, 3.19], p < 0.001) as statistically significant independent predictors of career aspirations. Conclusion The findings provide insights into developing strategies to create a pipeline of qualified nurses to optimize recruitment and succession planning for nurse managers, thereby building a sustainable workforce. Hospital managers should develop policies and programs that promote organizational support for further education and resilience-building workshops. These initiatives could encourage more nurses to pursue nursing management roles.