THE OCCUPATIONAL REINFORCEMENT PATTERNS AND WORK VALUES OF MALE AND FEMALE NURSES

Abstract

Despite evidence suggesting that men and women in the same profession may endorse different occupational reinforcer patterns (ORPs), widely used career interest inventories, such as the Work Importance Profiler (WIP-C) provided by the U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET, continue to utilize Occupational Scale norms that disregard gender differences. This study employed career psychology’s theory of work adjustment (TWA) to inferentially measure and compare the ORPs and work values of satisfied male and female registered nurses (RNs). Additionally, gender role conflict (GRC) theory was employed to analyze the findings further by comparing total and subscale scores on the short form of the Gender Role Conflict Scale (GRCS-SF) between satisfied and dissatisfied male RNs. This study addressed three key research questions. First, it compared the ORPs of satisfied male RNs to those of satisfied female RNs. Second, it evaluated these groups across six work value domains on the WIP-C: Achievement, Altruism, Autonomy, Comfort, Safety, and Status. Third, it examined how dissatisfaction among male RNs relates to their scores on the GRCS-SF by comparing the responses of dissatisfied and satisfied male RNs. Results revealed that satisfied female RNs endorsed significantly higher scores in one of the 21 ORPs, doing for others, a component of the Altruism work value domain on the WIP-C. Furthermore, compared to satisfied male RNs, dissatisfied male RNs reported significantly higher scores on one of the four GRCS-SF subscales, conflict between work and family relationships (CBWFR), which measures the extent to which men experience challenges balancing work, school, and family responsibilities. Finally, this study offers clinical, theoretical, and methodological insights to better support men pursuing nontraditional career paths, such as nursing, by addressing the interplay between gender-specific ORPs, work values, and GRCs.