Relationship between workplace ostracism and turnover intention among nurses: the sequential mediating effects of emotional labor and nurse-patient relationship

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to elaborate on the mechanism by which workplace ostracism influences turnover intention through exploring the sequential mediation effects of emotional labour and nurse-patient relationship. Using a sample of 379 nurses collected from a time-lag survey in a tertiary public hospital in China, we applied structural equation modelling techniques to test our hypothesized model. Our findings revealed that workplace ostracism positively influenced surface acting and deep acting. Workplace ostracism influenced turnover intention through the sequential mediation of surface acting and nurse-patient relationship. The findings of this study imply that nurses should receive education and training in emotional management skills to deal with workplace ostracism. Besides, fostering positive nurse-patient relationships may help reduce nurses’ turnover intention.

KEYWORDS:

• Workplace ostracism
• emotional labour
• nurse-patient relationship
• turnover intention
• nurses

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the participants for their effort and time.

Disclosure statement

No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was financially supported by the Fudan University “Double First-Class Discipline Construction“(2018-40-22) and the Study on the Establishment and Application of the Hospital Nursing Human Resource Management Sharing Mechanism Based on “Internet + Nursing Services“ (19ZD014).