The Mediating Role of Organizational Commitment Between Workplace Bullying and Turnover Intention Among Clinical Nurses in China: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: As a major occupational stressor, workplace bullying has become a hot issue in occupational and health psychology research. Previous studies have shown that workplace bullying has a significant impact on turnover intentions, but few studies to date have addressed this topic among nurses. This study aimed to determine the mediating role of organizational commitment in the relationship between workplace bullying and turnover intention among clinical nurses in China. Methods: Participants were recruited from hospitals in China from December 2, 2021 to February 25, 2023, using convenience sampling. Clinical nurses (n = 585) from different nursing departments completed the Socio-demographic Questionnaire, Negative Acts Qestionnaire, Chinese Workers’ Organizational Commitment Scale and Turnover Intention Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analyses and structural equation model were adopted to analyze the data. Results: Results revealed that workplace bullying was significantly negatively correlated with organizational commitment (r=−0.512, P＜0.01) and significantly positively correlated with turnover intention (r=0.558, P＜0.01) , organizational commitment was significantly negatively correlated with turnover intention (r=−0.539, P＜0.01). Workplace bullying could negatively predict organizational commitment (β = −0.641, P < 0.001) and positively predict turnover intention (β =−0.437, P＜0.001), organizational commitment could negatively predict turnover intention (β=−0.437, P＜0.01）. Mediation analysis indicated organizational commitment partially mediated the association between workplace bullying and turnover intention, with the mediating effect accounting for 38.36% of the total effect. Conclusion: Nurses experienced high levels of workplace bullying and it is critical to predicting their turnover intention. Organizational commitment plays an intervening mechanism explaining how workplace bullying promotes turnover intention among nurses. Managers should focus on reducing the incidence of workplace bullying and increasing the level of organizational commitment of nurses in order to reduce their turnover intention and stabilize the nursing workforce.