A cross‐lagged analysis of the relationships among workgroup commitment, motivation and proactive work behaviour in nurses

Abstract

Aim:To elucidate how workgroup commitment and motivation jointly influence nurses' proactive behaviour.Background: The need to offer effective patient care has encouraged health care organisations to promote proactive behaviours among nurses. Longitudinal relationships among motivation, commitment and nurses' proactivity remain unexplored. Methods:A self-reported questionnaire was administered to nurses of an Italian hospital. A cross-lagged panel analysis was carried out. Results:A total of 221 questionnaires were returned at Time 2 (T2). T1 affective workgroup commitment was positively related to T2 autonomous motivation and negatively related to T2 controlled motivation. T1 continuance workgroup commitment was positively related to T2 controlled motivation but unrelated to T2 autonomous motivation. T1 autonomous motivation was positively related to T2 proactive behaviour, while T1 controlled motivation was unrelated to it. Finally, no direct association between T1 commitment variables and T2 proactive behaviour was observed, suggesting that autonomous motivation fully mediated the affective commitmentproactive behaviour relationship. Conclusion:This study highlights the importance of workgroup affective commitment and autonomous motivation to foster nurses' proactive work behaviour. Implications for nursing management: Nurse managers may foster affective workgroup commitment and ultimately promote nurse proactivity by creating a shared climate that supports occupational needs and values and encourages a positive affective state towards nursing practice. K E Y W O R D S nursing, panel analysis, proactive work behaviour, unit/workgroup commitment, work motivation | 1149 GALLETTA ET AL.

Predicting nurses' occupational commitment and turnover intention: The role of autonomous motivation and supervisor and coworker behaviours

“…The greater autonomous motivation the nurses show—investing in their work for pleasure and satisfaction or to achieve professional goals that they value—the more they will become affectively committed to their occupation and the less inclined they will be to leave it over time. While these results align with those of recent cross‐sectional studies carried out within the nursing context (Fernet et al, 2017; Galletta et al, 2019), they could constitute the first empirical evidence that nurses' autonomous motivation acts on occupational commitment and turnover intention over time.…”

“…F I G U R E 1 The final model. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001; for clarity purposes, covariances and indicators of latent variables are not presented While these results align with those of recent cross-sectional studies carried out within the nursing context (Fernet et al, 2017;Galletta et al, 2019), they could constitute the first empirical evidence that nurses' autonomous motivation acts on occupational commitment and turnover intention over time.…”

“…Growing empirical evidence suggests that autonomous motivation at work promotes employee adaptation and functioning (Ryan & Deci, 2017). In the nursing context, nurses' autonomous motivation has been correlated with a variety of job attitudes related to retention, including occupational commitment, and negatively correlated with the intention to leave the organization and the nursing profession (Fernet et al, 2017; Fernet et al, 2020; Galletta et al, 2019). However, as past research has mainly utilized cross‐sectional designs, little is currently known about the temporal relationship between motivation and occupational commitment and turnover intention.…”

“…This approach leaves immediate supervisors with fewer opportunities and time to support, coach and motivate their team members (Shao et al, 2019). Second, the departments and units in which nurses operate generally rely on small teams to perform well, which makes collaboration and supportive behaviours essential for motivation and commitment (Galletta et al, 2019).…”

Effect of work environment on nurses’ job performance: Systematic review

“…The study is essential to identifying the present research paper's expected outcomes (Berberoglu, 2018). Similarly, a cross-lagged analysis study by Galletta et al (2019) was conducted among 221 Italian nurses to clarify how commitment and motivation of the workgroup together can influence nurses' performance. The study found that nurse managers facilitate practical workgroup commitment among nurses by creating a shared climate and eventually promoting continuous nurse improvement (Galletta et al, 2019).…”