Well-Paid Nurses are Good Nurses

Alessandro Fedele

No BEMPS24, BEMPS - Bozen Economics & Management Paper Series from Faculty of Economics and Management at the Free University of Bozen

Abstract: Some recent articles suggest that increasing wage in the nursing market with the aim of reducing shortage may yield a negative effect on the average ability and motivation of applicants attracted and, in turn, on the average quality of care. This finding is at odds with empirical evidence and has been criticized on the grounds that nurses' motivation is modeled in an overly simplistic way. The present paper provides a novel theoretical framework where the orientation of nurses' motivation - intrinsic versus extrinsic - is taken into account, and the precise distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is delineated on the basis of self-determination and person-environment fit theories. Findings show that high wages attract able and motivated individuals, thus maximizing the average quality of care. This result reconciles theory with evidence.

Keywords: Nurses' wage; nurses' ability; nurses' motivation; quality of care; self-determination and person-environment fit theories (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 I11 J32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: [21 pages]
Date: 2015-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-hea, nep-hme, nep-hrm and nep-lab
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Related works:
Journal Article: Well‐paid nurses are good nurses (2018)
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