Improving nurses' organizational commitment by participating in their performance appraisal process

AIMS: To promote the nurses' organizational commitment by their participation in the improvement of the performance appraisal process. BACKGROUND: Organizational commitment is one of the factors that secures safe and high-quality care of patients. It also enhances motivation among nurses, which affected by various factors such as performance appraisal. METHOD: A participatory action research study was undertaken (March 2015 to February 2018) with 39 intensive critical care nurses and nurse managers in Social Security Hospital in Iran, using a complete enumeration sampling method. The data were collected using organizational commitment and job satisfaction questionnaires, focus groups, semi-structured interviews and Delphi technique. RESULTS: Three major themes emerged including inappropriate performance appraisal system, inefficient instruments and unskilled evaluators. There were significant differences between organizational commitment and job satisfaction with performance appraisal process before and after the change in appraisal process. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses' involvement in revising and improving the process of their performance appraisal leads to higher commitment. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Maintaining a committed nursing workforce is vital for high-quality health care. Nurse Managers can improve the process of nurses' appraisal to make more motivation among them and prevent some problems such as job dissatisfaction.