This study investigated the mediating role of psychological grit in the relationship
between quality of work life and perception of brain drain among medical doctors in
TNorth Central Nigeria. The cross-sectional research method was used. Participants
were 371 medical doctors aged 23 – 66 years old who had spent between 1 year to 37 years as
medical doctors. They were 192(51.8%) males and 177(47.7%) females and 2(0.5%) who did
not indicate their gender. Data were collected using the Perception of Brain Drain
Questionnaire (PBDQ); the adapted Walton Quality of Life Scale, and the Grit Scale by
Duckworth (2007). Results of regression and simple mediation analyses showed quality of
work-life as a significant predictor of perception of brain drain among medical doctors in
North-central Nigeria,with safety and health issues in the workplace, social integration and
political instability significantly increasing brain drain while other components of quality of
work-life, including fair and adequate compensation, and opportunity to use and develop
human capacity, significantly reduce perception of brain drain among medical doctors. While
findings further indicate that psychological grit (passion and perseverance) significantly
lowers perception of brain drain, it was not found to be a significant mediator in the
relationship between quality of work-life and perception of brain drain whereby quality of
work-life dimensions, especially issues of safety, health,and political instability, increases
positive perception of brain drain with or without psychological grit. Based on the findings, it
was recommended that, apart from improving the quality of work-life of the medical doctors
through fair and adequate compensation, psychologists should be involved in the selection of
candidates into medical training institutions to select candidates who have passion for the job
in addition to competence.

Key words: Grit, Quality of work-life, Perception of Brain drain, Medical Doctors, North Central Nigeria.