Abstract

Purpose: This study was conducted to examine clinical nurses' perceptions on the nursing organizational culture and investigate the differences in their perceptions according to age groups in South Korea. Methods: Participants were 1,087 nurses from 25 general hospitals in South Korea. Data were collected from July 29 to September 30 in 2011, and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA with $Scheff{\grave{e}}$ test, and factor analysis. Results: Nurses perceived nursing as an excellent professional job which progresses continually. Autonomy and individualized reward to their professional work, however, were reported not-satisfactory to them. They agreed that nurses are punctual, polite, honest, and responsible, while disagreeing in competitiveness. There were differences in perceiving cultural factors according to age groups. The subjects in their over 40s perceived 'professionalism', 'normative', 'strictness', 'rightfulness', and 'community spirit' strongly, while nurses in their 20s perceived 'conservatism' highly. Also, nurses' perception on the organizational commitment and job satisfaction were high in over 40s while turnover intention was high in other groups. Conclusion: Nurse managers need to assess the perception on nursing organizational culture in order to improve nursing work environment better. In addition, it is necessary to take into account seriously the generation gap to build supportive nursing organizational culture.

Keywords

• Nursing;
• Organizational culture;
• Generation gap

• 간호;
• 조직문화;
• 세대차;