The association of involvement in clinical activities and job satisfaction among hospital and community pharmacists: an application of Herzberg’s two factor theory

The role of pharmacists in providing clinical activities has been expanded in several countries to address the increasing demand for healthcare services. This paper aims to (1) quantitatively investigate the relationship between job satisfaction and involvement in clinical activities among hospital and community pharmacists in Australia; (2) and assess whether mismatches between actual and acceptable levels of extrinsic factors are associated with job satisfaction among pharmacists. Using data from a nationwide cross-sectional survey of 392 hospital and community pharmacists, we found a positive association between involvement in clinical activities and job satisfaction among community pharmacists ( β = 0.99, p -value = 0.01). Consistent with Herzberg’s theory, we observed positive associations between job satisfaction and intrinsic factors (recognition of pharmacists’ work) and extrinsic factors (flexible work schedule and salary). Furthermore, we found that the existence of a mismatch between actual and acceptable levels of extrinsic factors was negatively associated with job satisfaction. Our findings suggest that expanding the role of community pharmacists to include more clinical tasks may align with their intrinsic motivation. Our paper highlights the importance of considering workers’ preferences and expectations to enhance their well-being. We recommend that healthcare organizations and policymakers consider the design of pharmacists’ roles to align with pharmacists’ values and needs, thereby improving pharmacists’ job satisfaction and the quality of care provided to patients.