Professional and Bureaucratic Role Conceptions and Moral Behavior Among Nurses

This descriptive study tested the relationship between professional and bureaucratic role conceptions and moral behavior. It was theorized that professional-bureaucratic role conceptions of nurses, and their perceptions of the discrepancy between ideal and actual values influence the manner in which they practice and operationalize their professional values, including moral behavior. Data were obtained from 217 practicing nurses representing different positions, areas of practice, education, age, ethnic groups, and work settings. Two of the subscales of Nursing Role Conceptions (Pieta, 1976) were used to measure professional and bureaucratic role conceptions; moral behavior was measured by Judgments About Nursing Decisions (Ketefian, 1981). Professional categorical role conception was positively related to moral behavior. Professional normative role conception and professional role discrepancy were negatively related. Bureaucratic role discrepancy was found to be positively related to moral behavior. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that the combination of professional normative and bureaucratic normative role conceptions, professional categorical and bureaucratic categorical role conceptions, and professional and bureaucratic role discrepancies explained greater variance in moral behavior than either one of the pairs of variables alone. The interactions between these variables were not significant.