Relationship between perceived organisational support, self-efficacy, proactive personality and career self-management among nurses: a moderated mediation analysis

Abstract

ObjectivesCareer self-management is believed to be a critical behaviour in the new career era. However, the underlying mechanisms that stimulate nurses’ career self-management are unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the mediating effect of self-efficacy and the moderating effect of proactive personality on the relationship between perceived organisational support and career self-management among nurses.DesignThis was a cross-sectional survey.Setting and participantsA total of 1866 nurses from 15 hospitals across 15 cities in China were recruited for this study.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe Perceived Organizational Support Scale, General Self-efficacy Scale, Proactive Personality Scale and Individual Career Management Questionnaire were used. Data were analysed using moderated mediation regressions with Hayes’ PROCESS macro in SPSS version 26.0.ResultsGeneral self-efficacy mediated the relationship between perceived organisational support and career self-management. Proactive personality moderated the direct (B=0.043, p<0.001, 95% CI 0.026 to 0.060) and indirect relationship (B=0.098, p<0.001, 95% CI 0.074 to 0.123) between perceived organisational support and career self-management. Further, the positive effects of perceived organisational support on general self-efficacy and career self-management were stronger for nurses with a high level of proactive personality. The model explained 47.2% of the variance incareer self-management.ConclusionThe findings highlight the crucial benefits of self-efficacy and important conditional effects of perceived organisational support on nurses’ career self-management.