The mediating effect of job motivation on the relationship between career barriers and nurses' turnover intention

Background: Numerous organisational variables have been shown to be associated with nurse turnover, and evidence of the negative impact of nurse turnover on patients and healthcare organisations is accumulating. However, little is known about the impact of nurses' career barriers on nurses' turnover intentions. Aim: This study aimed to examine the effect of variables related to nurses' sociodemographic and working characteristics, career barriers, and work motivation on turnover intentions, and reveal the mediating effect of job motivation on the relationship between career barriers on turnover intentions. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted using an online questionnaire distributed among nurses working in university, private, and public hospitals in Turkey. The sample of the study consisted of 404 nurses, and the Demographic and Work-Related Variables Questionnaire, Career Barriers in Nursing Scale, Nurses Job Motivation Scale, and the Turnover Intention Scale were used for data collection. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, multiple-regression analysis, and mediating effect analysis with HAYES (Model 4) were used in data analysis. Findings: The regression analysis determined that seven independent variables (type of hospital, duration of current hospital experience, choosing the profession willingly, satisfaction with career opportunities in the current hospital, having a career goal, career barriers, and job motivation) affected nurses' turnover intention, and these variables explained 41% of the total variance. It was also found that job motivation has a mediating effect on the relationship between career barriers and turnover intention. Conclusion: This study found that nurses' turnover intentions were affected by variables such as career barriers, job motivation, and sociodemographic/working characteristics, with job motivation having a mediating effect on the relationship between career barriers and turnover intention. An additional finding was that as job motivation increases, turnover intention caused by career barriers decreases. It is important that managers and policymakers implement practices aimed at reducing career barriers and study the factors that increase nurses' job motivation in order to maintain nurse retention. (c) 2023 Australian College of Nursing Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Automated summary

This study aimed to examine the factors influencing nurses' turnover intentions, including sociodemographic and work characteristics, career barriers, and job motivation, and to reveal the mediating effect of job motivation in the relationship between career barriers and turnover intentions. The results showed that career barriers, job motivation, and sociodemographic/work characteristics can affect nurses' turnover intentions, and job motivation plays a mediating role. In addition, as job motivation increases, the turnover intention caused by career barriers decreases. Therefore, managers and policymakers should take measures to reduce career barriers and increase nurses' job motivation to maintain the retention rate of nurses.