Factors Affecting Intention to Stay of Doctors in the Bureaucratic System through Job Satisfaction and Employee Engagement : A Case Study of the Department of Medical Services

Abstract

The objective of this research was to examine the causal factors affecting doctors' intention to stay within the bureaucratic system. This study investigated six antecedents: job characteristics, compensation, promotion, supervisors, relationships with teams and coworkers, and the work environment. Furthermore, it explored the mediating roles of job satisfaction and organizational commitment in the relationship between these antecedents and the intention to stay. The sample consisted of 204 government physicians under the Department of Medical Services, selected through purposive sampling. The sample size determination was based on the "rules of thumb" conceptual guidelines recommended by Tabachnick and Fidell (2001) and Kline (2011), which state that a sample size of approximately 200 cases is sufficient and acceptable for conducting structural equation modeling. The research instrument utilized was an online questionnaire. The statistic employed for hypothesis testing was Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).

The research results revealed that: 1) the causal relationship model fitted well with the empirical data, with goodness-of-fit statistics of χ²/df = 1.127, CFI = 0.971 and RMSEA = 0.025 2) compensation and promotion factors had a positive influence on job satisfaction, while the work environment factor had the highest influence in the model on organizational commitment; and 3) job satisfaction was the only variable that had a significant direct influence on retention intention, whereas organizational commitment was insufficient to influence the retention decision within the context of this sample.