Part-time pharmacists: Characterization, motivations, and prediction

Ana C Quinones, Purdue University

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to answer the question: What factors are related to pharmacists' decisions to become part-time professionals? The four specific objectives of the study were: (1) to characterize and compare part-time pharmacists with moonlighting pharmacists with respect to their motivations to work in a part-time job, (2) to characterize and compare part-time pharmacists with full-time and moonlighting pharmacists with respect to their: overall well-being, perceived ability to perform pharmacy practice functions, career plans, and perceived impact on pharmacy practice, (3) to determine the level of career commitment and professional involvement of part-time pharmacists and compare their career commitment and professional involvement with that of full-time and moonlighting pharmacists, and (4) to identify the set of reasons that best describes pharmacists' motives for being engaged in their given work arrangement. A random sample of 3,000 pharmacists nationwide was surveyed. A net response rate of 57 percent was achieved. Of those respondents currently working as pharmacists, 68 percent were full-timers, 13 percent were moonlighters, 14 percent were part-timers, and 5 percent were part-timers in two or more jobs. A majority of both male and female pharmacists worked in full-time jobs. When part-timers were compared against moonlighters, there were differences in the importance ratings assigned to the various reasons for working part-time. Part-timers gave the highest ratings to the reasons: "like the work," "need time for child-rearing," and "looking for greater flexibility." Moonlighters gave the highest importance ratings to the reasons: "like the work," "keep up with skills," and "provide more money for personal income." Part-timers also showed significantly higher levels of well-being, perceptions of their ability to perform pharmacy practice skills, and perceptions of their impact on the pharmacy profession. Part-timers showed significantly higher levels of career commitment than full-time pharmacists. Principal components analysis showed that the set of factors explaining the most variance in the importance ratings differs for part-timers, moonlighters and part-timers with more than one job.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Mason, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Pharmaceuticals|Business community|Sociology

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