Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify patterns of and trends in studies of job satisfaction among Korean nurses as selected from master theses whose research had covered studies from the period $1972{\sim}1997$. These studies were analyzed for publication date, research design, theoretical framework, research questions, and research hypotheses, subjects, sampling methods, measurement tools, statistical analyses, job satisfaction-related variables, and suggestions for further research. The findings of the analysis were as follows: 1) The number of studies on the subjects of job satisfaction has increased enormously since the 1980s. 2) In research design, 73.8% of the studies involved correlation research. 3) Conceptual frameworks, research questions, and hypotheses were not involved in 88.8%, 76.3%, and 68.% of the studies respectively. 4) With respect to subjects, 53.7% involved head nurses, charge nurses, and staff nurses. 5) As sampling methodology, questionnaires were employed in all the studies. 6) Measurement instruments developed by Slavitts et al.(1978) and Stamps et al.(1978) were used in 27 studies and 24 studies, respectively. 7) For the statistical analysis, ANOVA(30.7%), t-test(23.7%), and correlation(23.7%) were used. 8) The number of job satisfaction-related variables were eight items and 36 sub-concepts. 37.5%(30 studies) employed applied variables related to organizational characteristics. 9) 93.7% of the studies made suggestions for further research. On the basis of the above findings, the following recommendations were made: 1) Qualitative research should be performed to identify variables related to job satisfaction. 2) Research on developing interventions is needed to elevate job satisfaction. 3) Development of measurement tools is needed to evaluate the job satisfaction of Korean nurses. 4) Correlation studies are needed to identify the relationship between job satisfaction of nurses and outcomes to patients.