It's About Respect: Gender Professional Identity Integration Affects Male Nurses' Job Attitudes

Men who work in female-dominated jobs may perceive either overlap or incongruity between their gender and professional identities, yet little research has examined the effects of such perceptions for these men. The present research explored the impact of gender?professional identity integration (GPII), a measure of how much two identities overlap, on job satisfaction and organizational commitment, as well as on likelihood to pursue externally visible credentials, for male nurses. Analyses of data collected from 178 male nurses demonstrated that GPII significantly predicted job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and that perceived respect of nursing partially mediated this relationship. Evidence for the association between GPII and externally visible credentials was mixed, and perceived respect of nursing did not mediate this relationship. We discuss the implications of these findings for men in nursing, including the importance of perceived respect of one’s occupation in formation of positive job attitudes.