The effects of colleague solidarity and affective commitment on nurses’ intent to stay

[摘要] AbstractHighlightsThis paper investigated the status of intent to stay among nurses, and explored the effects of colleague solidarity and affective commitment on nurses’ intent to stay and whether affective commitment played a mediating role on the relationship between colleague solidarity and intent to stay?Editor’s SummaryThe nursing shortage is a critical challenge all over the world. It is important to note that this condition has a negative impact on patients’ outcomes and quality of nursing care. It is thus important to deeply explore the current status and possible factors of intent to stay among nurses. Interestingly, this article addresses this scientific question.ABSTRACTObjective: The purpose of this paper was to determine the effects of colleague solidarity and affective commitment on intent to stay among nurses, and to provide the basis for developing more effective retention strategies. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out and a sample of 346 registered nurses was recruited in convenience sampling method from three tertiary hospitals in Tianjin, China. A self-administrative questionnaire was used in order to collect data. All analyses were performed using SPSS 17.0 software. Results: The mean scores for colleague solidarity, affective commitment and intent to stay of nurses were 3.61 ± 0.50, 3.26 ± 0.55, and 3.54 ± 0.67, respectively. The nurses’ colleague solidarity and each dimension, affective commitment and intent to stay showed a positive correlation (r = 0.141 - 0.709, P < 0.01). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that emotional solidarity, academic solidarity and affective commitment entered intent to stay regression equation (β = 0.170 - 0.437, P < 0.001) and explained 45.3% of the total variation in nurses’ intent to stay, and emotional solidarity became the strongest predictor (β = 0.437, P < 0.001). Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that affective commitment played a partial moderating role on the relationship between colleague solidarity and intent to stay (β = 0.174 - 0.659, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Hospital administrators and managers should develop effective strategies to enhance colleague solidarity and affective commitment among nurses, which will ultimately increase nurses’ intent to stay.

[学科分类] 护理学

[关键词] Clinical nurses;Solidarity;Affective commitment;Intent to stay