BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The shortage of nurses has led to increasing competition in the recruitment and retention of nurses globally. According to literature, retention of nurses is correlated with job satisfaction, making it an important topic for research. This study compared the level of general, intrinsic, and extrinsic job satisfaction of Filipino nurses employed locally and overseas. It identified the major motivators and problems that affect their job satisfaction.

METHODS AND RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS: Eighty-four nurses were surveyed using the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. Fifty-five were locally-employed, while 29 were overseas Filipino nurses. The Mann-Whitney U Test was used to determine the significant difference in the level of satisfaction among the two groups. Answers on the open-ended questions were used to validate the quantitative data.

RESULTS: The results showed that Filipino nurses employed both locally and overseas have an average level of general satisfaction. Both groups also showed a high degree of intrinsic satisfaction and an average degree of extrinsic satisfaction. There is no significant difference found in the level of general, intrinsic, and extrinsic job satisfaction of locally and overseas employed Filipino nurses.

CONCLUSION: The study found that social service, an intrinsic factor, is the major motivating force of job satisfaction. Workload, an extrinsic factor, is the most common problem encountered for both groups of nurses. Salary serves as one of the factors that keeps Filipino nurses overseas satisfied, while it is one of the factors that causes dissatisfaction among locally-employed nurses.