INFLUENCE OF ROLE DISCRETION AND SHIFT WORK ON ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR OF NIGERIAN NURSES

This study investigated the influence of role discretion and shift work on ethical behaviour of nurses. One hundred and seventy four (174) nurses from University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, and National Orthopaedic hospital all in Enugu with age range of 24-65years and a mean age of 40.25years participated in the study. A cross sectional survey design was employed in the study. Two scales which include Job role discretion scale (Hackman & Oldham, 1975) and Ethical behaviour inventory (Kanu, 2009) were used in gathering the data for the study. A 2 X 2 Analysis of Variance was adopted in testing the hypothesis. The result showed that role discretion did not significantly influence ethical behaviour of nurses F (1,170) = -269.42, P>.05. Also, the result showed no significant influence of shift work on ethical behaviour of nurses F (1,170) =-1.20 P>.05. There was no significant interaction effect between role discretion and shift work on ethical behaviour of nurses. The result and its implication were discussed and suggestions made for further research.