Human Resources for Health (May 2025)

The influencing factors of turnover intention among pediatric healthcare workers: a moderated mediation model

  • Qingwen Jia,
  • Wenkang Shi,
  • Hao Yuan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-025-00989-2
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Abstract Background Turnover intention (TI) is significant for stabilizing the pediatric healthcare workforce and ensuring sufficient pediatric healthcare human resources. This study focuses on the impact and potential mechanisms of person–organization fit (POF), hierarchical plateau (HP), and person–group fit (PGF) on TI. Methods The data set was collected from the Children’s Hospital of Hebei Province on the Wenjuanxing online platform using the convenience sampling method in September and October 2023. 546 questionnaires were collected, with 371 valid questionnaires (effective rate: 67.95%). Model 4 and Model 14 of the PROCESS macro (version 3.3) in SPSS were used to construct mediation and moderated mediation models, respectively, and the significance of mediation and moderation effects in the theoretical model was verified using the Bootstrap method (sample size = 5000). Results The results of Model 4 indicate that POF has a negative impact on the HP ( B = -0.1414, p < 0.01) and TI (B = − 0.3616, p < 0.001), while the HP has a positive impact on TI ( B = 0.2528, p < 0.001), and HP can mediate the relationship between POF and TI (B = − 0.0358, 95% CI [− 0.0678, − 0.0049]). The results of Model 14 show that the POF has a negative impact on the HP ( B = -0.1414, p < 0.01) and TI (B = − 0.2827, p < 0.001), while the HP has a positive impact on TI ( B = 0.2747, p < 0.001), and index of moderated mediation shows that the PGF can moderate the indirect effect of POF on TI (Index = 0.0305, 95% CI [0.0020, 0.0582]). Conclusions This study constructed a moderated mediation model and found that POF can negatively affect the TI of pediatric healthcare workers, the HP can mediate the relationship between POF and TI, and PGF can moderate the second part of this mediating process. This emphasizes the important role of employee fit with the organization and group, as well as the significant impact of employee career development on TI.

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