A comparative study of job satisfaction and motivation in the private and public health sectors of South Africa

Abstract

Job satisfaction research has practical applications for the enhancement of individual lives as well as organisational effectiveness. Many people spend a great deal of their living life within their work environment and their jobs are an integral part of their lives. Getting the best outcomes from their jobs are essential in improving their quality of lives. Work motivation prevails when there is alignment between individual and organisational goals. The South African health sector varies in the quality and level of service from the basic primary healthcare services mainly provided by the state in the public health sector, to the high quality, well-funded services comparable to the best in the world mainly in the private health sector and academia. This research investigated the job satisfaction of medical practitioners in the public health sector and private health sector. The literature review investigated some of the prevailing conditions in the public and private health sectors. The study revealed that the two sectors employed different strategies to attract and to retain skilled personnel within their sectors. Motivation was studied in the research to understand the behaviour or drive of the medical doctors in the two sectors. The literature review also focused on job satisfaction, some of the causes and effects of job satisfaction or dissatisfaction. A convenience sampling method with a questionnaire that was distributed to a group of medical practitioners in the public and private sector was done. Descriptive statistics was done and the data was then statistically analysed. The study revealed that there were statistical differences in the means of the public and private sector doctors on the construct equity. This entails the perceptions of the medical practitioners on the equitable distribution of the resources in the two sectors and comparison of the salaries of the medical practitioners in the two sectors. The public sector medical practitioners were found to have a negative attitude towards the equity constructs. There were no statistical differences in the means of the two groups of medical practitioners on the constructs job challenges, security, group factors, organisational factors, manager-leadership, recognition, and growth and development. It should be noted that convenient sampling was employed and, therefore, inferences cannot be made on this study.