Nurses' organizational climate of perceived organizational support and its relationships with psychosocial working conditions and psychological contracts: A longitudinal questionnaire study

Abstract

ObjectiveThe aim of the present study was to investigate the longitudinal relationships between nurses' organizational climate of perceived organizational support (POS‐climate) and their psychosocial working conditions and psychological contracts.MethodsA two‐wave longitudinal cohort questionnaire study was carried out among registered nurses employed within six hospitals in two regions in Sweden (n = 711). Two cross‐lagged panel models were tested after ensuring scalar factorial invariance of the measurement models. The first model investigated longitudinal relationships between psychosocial working conditions and the POS‐climate, while the second model investigated such relationships between the psychological contracts and the POS‐climate.ResultsThe results indicated that influence at work and an ideology‐infused psychological contract had positive effects on the nurses' POS‐climate.ConclusionsThese results highlight the importance of providing nurses with such influence, and of a shared ideology within the entire health‐care organization, centered on the ethical values of the health‐care professions.