Comparative Study of Physicians’ Job Satisfaction Levels in the Public and the Private Sectors in Russia

Abstract

Job satisfaction is widely seen as a significant factor in an organisation’s efficiency. In healthcare, job satisfaction is very important because it helps to develop a clinic’s human resource potential, and thus to influence the quality of the medical services provided. The aim of this study is to compare physicians’ job satisfaction levels in public, private, and departmental healthcare organisations. Respondents were asked to evaluate their overall attitude towards their work and their levels of satisfaction with factors such as salary, working conditions, and team atmosphere. The results of the study showed that the physicians with the highest job satisfaction levels are in the private sector (67%), whereas physicians in the departmental and the public sectors have much lower job satisfaction levels (9% and 11%, respectively). In terms of salary, physicians who work in public clinics have lower levels of satisfaction (11%) than physicians who work in other types of clinics. Most of the physicians surveyed appear to be content with the team atmosphere in their workplace, with around 70% of respondents in all organisation types indicating that they are satisfied with this aspect of their work. Logistic regression analysis showed that the motivating factor which most influences the satisfaction levels of healthcare workers in public clinics is their working conditions, whereas the factor that most influences the satisfaction levels of physicians in the private sector is their salary. Meanwhile, the factors that most influence the satisfaction levels of physicians in departmental organisations are both their working conditions and their salary.