Relationship between perceived organizational support and turnover intention in Chinese nurses

Objective To explore the relationship between perceived organizational support and turnover intention and the mediating role of job satisfaction in the relationship for improvements of quality of medical service and the stability of nurses.Methods Stratified cluster sampling method was used to select 644 nurses from 5 hospitals of grade three class one in Liaoning province during July to August,2010.A questionnaire survey was conducted among the nurses and multiple regression analysis was performed in data analyses.Results Among the nurses,417(62.8%) had turnover intention and 182(27.4%) were unsatisfied with their work condition.Perceived organizational support was negatively associated with job performance(r=-0.330,P＜0.001) among the nurses.As a predictor,perceived organizational support was inversely associated with turnover intention(β=-0.311,P＜0.001) and explained 9.3% of the variance.After adjustment of job satisfaction,the relatifonship between perceived organizational support and turnover intention decreased(β=-0.166,P＜0.001).However,job satisfaction was inversely associated with turnover intention(β=-0.402,P＜0.001) and explained 13.4% of the variance.Conclusion In this study,nurses had higher turnover intention and a moderate level of job satisfaction.Perceived organizational support had direct and indirect effect on turnover intention.Meanwhile,job satisfaction partly mediates the relationship between perceived organizational support and trunover intention.