Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions of nurses regarding their roles in social welfare facilities, including role expectation, role performance, and role conflict and its influencing factors. Methods: Data were collected by administering a structured questionnaire to 92 nurses working in 5 types of social welfare facilities. Descriptive statistics, paired t test, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regression analyses were performed using the SPSS Win 18.0 program. Results: The mean score of role expectation ($4.44{\pm}0.41$) was significantly higher(t =17.50, p<.001) than that of role performance ($3.46{\pm}0.005$). The biggest mean difference between role expectation and role performance was found in "research activities" ($2.92{\pm}0.81$). The mean score of role conflict was $2.89{\pm}0.66$, with the highest mean score found in "conflict caused when one nurse takes up two or more roles" ($3.31{\pm}0.69$). The influencing factors on role conflict were the difference between role expectation and role performance(${\beta}=.45$, p<.001), and facility size (${\beta}=-.37$, p<.001), which accounts for 51.5% incidence of role conflict controlling nurses' age, career, position, and working periods in social welfare facilities (F=17.13, p<.001). Conclusion: The nurses working in the social welfare facilities perceived some restrictions on their role performance compared with their role expectation, this difference being a major factor influencing their role conflict. Therefore, future studies need to investigate interventions to minimize this effect.