FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH NEW GRADUATE NURSE WORK SATISFACTION AND TURNOVER INTENTION

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of personal (psychological capital), situational (structural empowerment, leader empowerment and support, and unit characteristics: job demands, job resources, and work-life balance), and relational (workplace incivility and group cohesion) factors with new graduate nurse work satisfaction and turnover intention in the United States. This dissertation utilized the two-manuscript option. This study was a secondary data analysis utilizing a cross-sectional, descriptive correlational design of an existing database. The study sample consisted of 540 new graduate nurses that participated in the Versant New Graduate Nurse Residency [trademark] program. Manuscript one was focused on the experiences of incivility and how well personal and situational factors explained experiences of incivility. The study found new nurses have high experiences of general incivility, nurse-nurse incivility, physician-nurse incivility, and patient/family-nurse incivility. On the other hand, these nurses are experiencing low levels of incivility from their leaders. Further, personal and situational variables had significant relationships with incivility. Structural empowerment served to explain experiences in general, nurse-nurse, and leader-nurse incivility. Having a manageable workload explained experiences in physician-nurse and patient/family-incivility. Manuscript two was focused on whether or not incivility impacted work satisfaction and turnover intention. The manuscript also focused on how well personal, situational, and relational factors explained the variance in work satisfaction and turnover intention. Incivility had significant relationships with both work satisfaction and turnover intention. Further, situational and relational factors had significant relationships with work satisfaction and turnover intention. Lastly, personal, situational, and relational factors combined to explain a significant amount of the variance in work satisfaction and turnover intention. This study has implications for educators, nurse managers, and healthcare organizations. Positive relationships with the nurse leader put them in position to impact outcomes of the new graduate. Improving experiences of incivility, promoting empowerment and support, and providing adequate resources while reducing job demands are critical to retaining the new graduate nurse.