The impact of work support and organizational career growth on nurse turnover intention in China

Abstract

Objective: The paper aimed to explore the impact of work support and potential for career advancement on the nurse turnover intention in order to find an effective approach to curb high turnover. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 526 nurses from eight teaching hospitals in Tianjin, China, was conducted to test the hypothesized multilevel model. The organizational career growth scale, work support scale, and the nurse turnover intention scale were used to measure the effect of organizational career growth and work support on nurse turnover intention. Finally, SPSS 17.0 and AMOS 17.0 software were used to analyse the relationship of these variables. Results: The score of the three scales nurse turnover, organizational career growth, and work support were 1.98 ± 0.60, 2.40 ± 0.50, and 4.06 ± 0.98, respectively. The total and direct effects of work support on turnover intention were −0.361 (p < 0.01) and −0.147 (p < 0.01), respectively. The indirect effect was −0.169 with a 95% bootstrap confidence interval of −0.257 to −0.102. Conclusion: The study showed a lack of work support negatively and directly associated with nurse turnover intention. Additional opportunities for career growth within the organization may strengthen the effect of work support and consequently increase the retention of qualified nursing staff.

Keywords

• Nurse
• Organizational career growth
• Turnover intention
• Work support