Comparison of Organizational Commitment Levels of Military Nurses Due to Mandatory Organizational Change

Objective: This study was carried out to assess the compulsory organizational change of and to evaluate organizational commitment levels before and after the organizational change of nurses who are one of the indispensable groups of health care service provision and who work in Haydarpaşa Sultan Abdülhamit Han Training and Research Hospital. Method: The sample of the study consisted of military nurses who were transferred from the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in 2016, and 82 nurses who took part in Haydarpaşa Sultan Abdülhamit Han Training and Research Hospital after the organisational change, that agreed to participate in the research. The full counting method was used for sampling. In the study planned as descriptive, the demographic data form and the Organizational Commitment Scale created by the researcher in line with the literature were used as data collection tools. In the study, the data was applied to the participants after the explanation of the purpose of the research and the concents of the participants were obtained, by face-to-face interview method, at the dates and times deemed appropriate by the participants. The scale was applied to the participants, two times, to ensure the assesment of the employees both for their previous and current institutions. Results: While the demographic data of the employees were evaluated, 17 (20.73%) of the employees were found to be age 30 and younger, 40 of all (48.78%) were found to be between the ages 31-40 and 25 of all (30.48%) were found to be age 41 and older. In respect of professional experience, the employees are distributed as 26 of all (31.71%) having experience less than 5 years and 56 (68.29%) of all having experience more than 5 years. In respect of educational level, employees are distributed as 36 of all (43.9%) have undergraduate education or a higher degree of education, 25 of all (30.48%) have associate degree, 21 of all (25.60%) have high school degree. In respect of time of labor in the institution, employees are distributed as 17 of all (20.73%) labored for 5 years or less and 65 of all (79.27%) labored for more than 5 years. After the institutional change, it was observed that GATA value (x̄ = 3,530) , in terms of total organizational commitment of the nurses, decreased significantly (x̄ = 2,877) , in comparison with Ministry of Health (p = 0,000 0.05). Conclusions: According to the findings of the study, it is seen that the organizational commitment of the employees of GATA has shown a decreasing trend.