Factors Affecting Retention of Pharmacists Working on Consumer Protection in the Southern Provincial Public Health Offices

Abstract

Objective: To study personal characteristics and motivation factors of pharmacists working on consumer protection in the Southern Provincial Public Health Offices, and the effect of these factors on job retention among this group of pharmacists. Method: This research was an analytical research. The study population was 123 pharmacists practicing consumer protection in the Southern Provincial Public Health Offices. The research instrument was a questionnaire with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for each variable at 0.86-0.95. The study collected data in August 2020. Results: Pharmacists reported a high level of both motivation and maintenance factors with mean scores of 3.79 ± 0.74 and 3.71 ± 0.80 out of a full score of 5, respectively. Pharmacists had a high level of job retention with mean score 3.87 ± 0.83 out of a full score of 5. Maintenance factors in the domain of job security and motivation factor in the domain of job achievement explained 53 percent of the variance of pharmacists’ job retention. Conclusion: Factors influencing pharmacists’ retention were maintenance factor in the area of job security and motivational factor in the area of job achievement. The most influential factor was job security. Therefore, relevant organizations at all levels should have a system that creates a sense of job security and being conducive to the work successfully in order to job retention among pharmacists.