Role Clarity , Need for Clarity , Satisfaction , Tension , and Withdrawal 1

In a mailed-questionnaire study of 156 staff registered nurses, perceived role clarity was related negatively to voluntary turnover, propensity to leave, and job tension, and positively to work satisfaction. The correlations of role clarity with voluntary turnover, propensity to leave, and work satisfaction were nonsignificant for nurses classified as low on a need-for-clarity index; the correlations were significantly higher for nurses with a high need for clarity. The correlations between role clarity and job tension were significant for both subgroups. The concepts of role clarity, the rigidity of role specifications, and the conditions of role specificity, as opposed to the processes of role specification, were discussed with regard to organizational theory and organizational change.