‘Going private’: a qualitative comparison of medical specialists’ job satisfaction in the public and private sectors of South Africa

Table 1 Summary of different job satisfiers in public vs. private sectors, for specialists

Category	Public satisfiers	Private satisfiers
Rewards	+ Good benefits (for example, paid sabbatical leave, state pension), stable income	+++ Much better pay generally (depending on level of specialization)
Physical environment	++ More predictable working hours - less ‘selling availability’
		+++ Higher resource availability (incl. vis. other health workers)
		++ Greater sense of career path or progression through more prestige and recognition
Social environment	+++ More collegial relations among doctors
	+ Good relations with managers (in H1, not necessarily elsewhere)	+++ Fewer stresses with ‘the administration’ and National/provincial DoH through self-employment
	++ Patients less demanding, and less patient contact	++ Patients viewed as more compliant, more patient contact
		+++ More positive social relations with other health and hospital workers
Work itself	+++ Opportunities for research and teaching (in academic settings)
	+++ More opportunities for ‘challenge’, variety, and feeling ‘needed’ or relevant	+ More ‘straightforward’ and less complicated cases (valued by some)
		+ Opportunity for state-of-the-art medical practice experience
		+++ More autonomy and ability to influence working environment

Source: qualitative evidence.
Note: ‘+’ signs signify estimates/guesses from the author of how important each job aspect appeared to respondents in the qualitative case study, with a score between 1(+) and 3(+++). Higher scores were accorded based around popularity of the issues and how clear and strong arguments were in their favor.

ISSN: 1478-4491