Personality dimensions and their relationship with job satisfaction amongst dutch nurse anaesthetists V.C.H. MEEUSEN MA, RNA 1 , C. BROWN-MAHONEY PhD, NIMH 2 , K. VAN DAM PhD 3 , A.A.J. VAN ZUNDERT MD, PhD, FRCA 1 and J.T.A. KNAPE MD, PhD, FRCA 4 1 PhD Student, Catharina Hospital – Brabant Medical School, Department of Anaesthesiology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 2 Scholar, Petris Center on Health Markets & Consumer Welfare, Berkeley, California, USA, 3 Associate Professor, Work & Organizational Psychology, Tilburg University/FSW, LE Tilburg, The Netherlands and 4 Chair, Department of Anaesthesiology, Division of Perioperative and Emergency Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, GA Utrecht, The Netherlands Introduction The shortage of nurses, and nurses voluntarily leaving their jobs, has been a major problem in recent years, affecting the delivery of healthcare all over the world (Leiter & Maslach 2009, Liou 2009, Ma et al. 2009). Indeed, there is a major risk of a shortage of profes- sionals, especially in anaesthesia (Egger Halbeis et al. 2007). Studies on voluntary turnover emphasize the importance of job satisfaction for the decision to leave Correspondence V. C. H. Meeusen Department of Anaesthesiology Catharina Hospital – Brabant Medical School Eindhoven Michelangelolaan 2 5623 EJ Eindhoven The Netherlands E-mail: meeusen44@hetnet.nl MEEUSEN V.C.H., BROWN-MAHONEY C., VAN DAM K., VAN ZUNDERT A.A.J. & KNAPE J.T.A. (2010) Journal of Nursing Management 18, 573–581 Personality dimensions and their relationship with job satisfaction amongst dutch nurse anaesthetists Aim This study investigates the relationship between personality dimensions and job satisfaction. Background The shortage of nurses, and those voluntarily leaving their jobs, con- tinues to be a problem affecting the delivery of healthcare all over the world, including anaesthesia. If it is found that nurse anaesthetists with certain personality types have high levels of job satisfaction, the information may be helpful for the retention of nurse anaesthetists. Methods A questionnaire was distributed amongst Dutch nurse anaesthetists. Fac- tor and multiple regression analyses were performed to reveal personality dimen- sions and their impact on job satisfaction. Results Nine hundred and twenty-three questionnaires were completed and analy- sed (46% response rate). Two personality dimensions – Ôeasy goingÕ and ÔorderlyÕ – explained 3.5% of the variance in job satisfaction. Conclusion Personality dimensions as measured with the Myers–Briggs Type Indi- cator (MBTI) are only minimally relevant in predicting job satisfaction amongst Dutch nurse anaesthetists. Implications for nursing management Before using personality traits as a selection tool for retaining employees, it is important to understand the relationship of particular personalities to job satisfaction; it is also important to know which combination of personality traits is likely to create a highly cohesive work group. Keywords: job satisfaction, myers–briggs type indicator, nurse anaesthetists, personality Accepted for publication: 19 November 2009 Journal of Nursing Management, 2010, 18, 573–581 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2834.2010.01066.x ª 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation ª 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 573