Career commitment: a mediator of the effects of job stress on pharmacists' work-related attitudes.

OBJECTIVE: The hypothesis for this study was that career commitment mediates the effects of job stress on several work-related attitudes of pharmacists. The effects of job stress, career commitment, met expectations, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment on job turnover intention were also investigated. DESIGN: Cross-sectional mail survey. SETTING: Nationwide sample of licensed pharmacy practitioners in the United States. PARTICIPANTS: 1,088 respondents (full- or part-time chain, independent, or hospital pharmacists) to a previous study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Rating scales measured each of the study variables. Demographic information was also collected. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling with latent variables. INTERVENTIONS: None. RESULTS: Responses were received from 653 pharmacists out of 921 contacted (71%). The effects of job stress on job turnover intention were mediated through career commitment, met expectations, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. Career commitment positively affected met expectations (beta = 0.35), and met expectations positively affected organizational commitment (beta = 0.66) and job satisfaction (beta = 0.78). An increase in the mean level of job satisfaction and organizational commitment decreased the likelihood of job turnover intention. Independent pharmacy owners tended to have the most positive attitudes toward work. CONCLUSION: Strategies should be developed to increase the career commitment of pharmacists. Increased commitment can reduce the negative effects of job stress and improve work-related attitudes.