Professional Quality of Life, Team Cohesion, Organizational Commitment, and Intent to Leave Among Nursing Personnel: A Cross‐Sectional Study
Daniel R. Kelly, Kristen Leighton, Rhoda A. Owens, Jana Zwilling, David SchmitzAims
To examine whether professional quality of life, team cohesion, and organizational commitment were independently associated with intent to leave among nursing personnel.
Background
Prior research links professional quality of life with turnover intention, but less is known about joint associations with team cohesion and multidimensional organizational commitment in nursing workforces.
Methods
A cross‐sectional electronic survey of 633 nursing personnel in North Dakota used validated measures. Pearson correlations, multiple regression, and post hoc nested regression were conducted.
Results
The full model explained 47% of intent‐to‐leave variance. Burnout was positively associated with intent to leave ( β = 0.40, p < 0.001), whereas affective commitment ( β = −0.41, p < 0.001) and continuance commitment ( β = −0.10, p = 0.003) were inversely associated. Secondary traumatic stress (STS) was positively correlated with intent to leave ( r = 0.16) but negatively associated after adjustment ( β = −0.11, p = 0.005); its coefficient reversed when burnout entered.
Conclusions
Intent to leave was associated with occupational strain and organizational attachment. The STS reversal is consistent with statistical suppression and should not be interpreted as protective.
Implications for Nursing Management
Findings identify burnout and affective commitment as priorities for prospective strategy testing. Longitudinal research should determine whether modifying these domains reduces intent to leave or turnover.