Turnover among nurses has been recognized as a frequent and enduring problem in healthcare worldwide. The widespread nursing shortage has reached the level of a healthcare crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the importance of understanding the contributing factors of nurse turnover, and more importantly how to mitigate the problem. Using cross-sectional survey data collected from 3370 newly licensed nurses working across 51 metropolitan areas within 35 U.S. states, we explore how role overload and work constraints can both diminish job satisfaction and increase turnover intentions of new nurses. Coworker support and work role centrality are identified as moderators of these relationships which show potential to mitigate these negative outcomes. This study highlights the importance of coworker support and work centrality in improving job satisfaction and subsequent turnover intentions among newly licensed nurses.
TuraleSNantsupawatA. Clinician mental health, nursing shortages and the COVID-19 pandemic: Crises within crises. Int Nurs Rev2021; 68: 12–14.
2.
McGarryBEGrabowskiDCBarnettML. Severe staffing and personal protective equipment shortages faced by nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Aff2020; 39: 1812–1821.Health Aff.
3.
CredlandN.The sheer goodwill of staff only goes so far: The pandemic shows that boosting nurse recruitment and retention is vital, not just in critical care but across the health service. Nurs Stand2021; 36: 13.
4.
LiangHFLinCCWuKM. Breaking through the dilemma of whether to continue nursing: Newly graduated nurses’ experiences of work challenges. Nurse Educ Today2018; 67: 72–76.
ElangovanARKarASteinkeC. Meaningful moves: A meaning-based view of nurses' turnover. Health Serv Manage Res2022; 35: 48–56.
7.
HobfollSE. The ecology of stress. New York: Hemisphere Publishing Corp., 1988.
8.
HobfollSEFreedyJ. Professional burnout: recent developments in theory and research. Chicago: CRC Press, 2018, pp. 115–129.Conservation of resources: A general stress theory applied to burnout.
9.
AggarwalAChandPKJhambD, et al. leader-member exchange, work engagement, and psychological withdrawal behavior: The mediating role of psychological empowerment. Front Psychol2020; 11: 423.
10.
HobfollSE. Stress, culture, and community. New York: Plenum, 1998.
11.
HalbeslebenJRBWheelerAR. To invest or not? The role of coworker support and trust in daily reciprocal gain spirals of helping behavior. Journal of Management2015; 41: 1628–1650.
12.
MilesRH. Role-set configuration as a predictor of role conflict and ambiguity in complex organizations. Sociometry1977; 40: 21–34.
13.
ChangEHancockK. Role stress and role ambiguity in new nursing graduates in Australia. Nurs Health Sci2003; 5: 155–163.
14.
ChouRJARobertSA. Workplace support, role overload, and job satisfaction of direct care workers in assisted living. J Health Soc Behav2008; 49: 208–222.
15.
SpectorPEJexSM. Development of four self-report measures of job stressors and strain: Interpersonal conflict at work scale, organizational constraints scale, quantitative workload inventory, and physical symptoms inventory. J Occup Health Psychol1998; 3: 356–367.
16.
PetersLHO’ConnorEJ. Situational constraints and work outcomes: The influences of a frequently overlooked construct. Acad Manage Rev1980; 5: 391–397.
17.
PindekSSpectorPE. Organizational constraints: A meta-analysis of a major stressor. Work Stress2016; 30: 7–25.
18.
DiefendorffJMBrownDJKaminAM, et al. Examining the roles of job involvement and work centrality in predicting organizational citizenship behaviors and job performance. J Organ Behav2002; 23: 93–108.
19.
KostekJA. Work Centrality: A Meta-analysis of the Nomological Network. USA: Doctoral Dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2012.
20.
StephensonALBellN. Finding meaningful work in difficult circumstances: A study of prison healthcare workers. Health Serv Manage Res2019; 32: 69–77.
21.
MalloyDCFahey-McCarthyEFMurakamiM, et al. finding meaning in the work of nursing: an international study. Online J Issues Nurs2015; 20: 7.
22.
YangWHaoQSongH. Linking supervisor support to innovation implementation behavior via commitment: The moderating role of coworker support. J Manag Psychol2020; 35: 129–141.
23.
MathieuMEschlemanKJChengD, et al. Meta-analytic and multiwave comparison of emotional support and instrumental support in the workplace. J Occup Health Psychol2019; 24: 387–409.
24.
Blanco-DonosoLMMoreno-JimenezJAmutioA, et al. stressors, job resources, fear of contagion, and secondary traumatic stress among nursing home workers in face of the COVID-19: The case of Spain. J Appl Gerontol2021; 40: 244–256.
25.
NewmanKMaylorUMaylorU. The NHS Plan: Nurse satisfaction, commitment and retention strategies. Health Serv Manage Res2002; 15: 93–105. Health Serv.
26.
WinningAMMerandiJMLeweD, et al. The emotional impact of errors or adverse events on healthcare providers in the NICU: The protective role of coworker support. J Adv Nurs2018; 74: 172–180.
27.
GriffethRWHomPWGaertnerS. A meta-analysis of antecedents and correlates of employee turnover: Update, moderator tests, and research implications for the next millennium. Journal of Management2000; 26: 463–488.
28.
KuoHTLinKCLiIC. The mediating effects of job satisfaction on turnover intention for long-term care nurses in Taiwan. J Nurs Manag2014; 22: 225–233.
29.
ModaresnezhadMAndrewsMCMesmer-MagnusJ, et al. Anxiety, job satisfaction, supervisor support and turnover intentions of mid-career nurses: A structural equation model analysis. J Nurs Manag2021; 29: 931–942.
30.
KovnerCTBrewerCS. Newly Licensed Registered Nurse Survey. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, Ann Arbor, MI. 2006. [distributor],2020-01-30 DOI: 10.3886/ICPSR36773.v3
31.
KovnerCTBrewerCSFairchildS, et al. Newly licensed RNs' characteristics, work attitudes, and intentions to work. Am J Nurs2007; 107: 58–70.
32.
MuthénLKMuthénBO. Mplus: Statistical analysis with latent variables. User’s guide. Los Angeles, CA: Author, 2013.Version 7.31.
33.
BentlerPM. On the fit of models to covariances and methodology to the Bulletin. Psychol Bull1992; 112(3): 400–404.
34.
HuLTBentlerPM. Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Struct Equat Model: A Multidiscipl J1999; 6(1): 1–55.
35.
KlineT.Psychological testing: A practical approach to design and evaluation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2005.
CohenJCohenPWestS, et al.3rd ed.Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 2003. Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences.
38.
NevittJHancockGR. Performance of bootstrapping approaches to model test statistics and parameter standard error estimation in structural equation modeling. Structu Equat Model: A Multidiscipl J2001; 8: 353–377.
39.
PreacherKJCurranPJBauerDJ. Computational tools for probing interactions in multiple linear regression, multilevel modeling, and latent curve analysis. J Educ Behav Stat2006; 31: 437–448.
40.
MacKinnonDPLockwoodCMWilliamsJ. Confidence limits for the indirect effect: Distribution of the product and resampling methods. Multivariate Behav Res2004; 39(1): 99–128.
41.
LockwoodCMMacKinnonDP. (1998). Bootstrapping the standard error of the mediated effect. In: Proceedings of the twenty-third annual SAS users group international conference.Cary, NC, 1998, SAS Institute. pp. 997–1002.
42.
BuerhausPI. Current nursing shortages could have long-lasting consequences: Time to change our present course. Nurs Econ2021; 39: 247–250.
43.
NagayaY. A review of factors affecting nursing turnover in Japan. Biomed J Sci Tech Res2018; 12: 9263–9271.
44.
FernetCGilletNAustinS, et al. Predicting nurses' occupational commitment and turnover intention: The role of autonomous motivation and supervisor and coworker behaviours. J Nurs Manag2021; 29: 2611–2619.
KjeldsenAMJacobsenCB. Public service motivation and employment sector: Attraction or socialization?Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory2013; 23(4): 899–926.
47.
Mesmer-MagnusJGuidiceRAndrewsM, et al. The effects of supervisor humour on employee attitudes. J Manag Dev2018; 37: 697–710.
48.
SharabiMHarpazI. Improving employees' work centrality improves organizational performance: work events and work centrality relationships. Human Resource Development International2010; 13: 379–392.
49.
KallebergALMastekaasaA. Satisfied movers, committed stayers: The impact of job mobility on work attitudes in Norway. Work Occup2001; 28: 183–209.
50.
HollandPCooperBSheehanC. Employee voice, supervisor support, and engagement: The mediating role of trust. Human Resource Management2017; 56: 915–929.
51.
ShinYHurWMChoiWH. Coworker support as a double-edged sword: A moderated mediation model of job crafting, work engagement, and job performance. The International Journal of Human Resource Management2020; 31: 1417–1438.
52.
HuJLidenRC. Making a difference in the teamwork: Linking team prosocial motivation to team processes and effectiveness. Acad Manage J2015; 58: 1102–1127.
53.
PetersonTM. Motivation: How to increase project team performance. Project Management Journal2007; 38(4): 60–69.
