Structural empowerment, workplace incivility, nurses' intentions to leave their organisation and profession: A path analysis

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study is to test the theoretical model involving the relationships between nurses' perceptions of structural empowerment, supervisor and coworker incivility, and their intention to leave both the organisations and the nursing profession.

Background: Studies investigating the relationships between structural empowerment, workplace incivility and nurses' intentions to leave their organisation are increasing. However, the results of studies indicating the effects of structural empowerment on these variables are inadequate.

Methods: We used a cross-sectional, correlational study to investigate relations among the variables with a sample of 574 nurses.

Results: Structural empowerment had significantly direct negative effects on supervisor incivility, coworker incivility and nurses' intentions to leave their organisation, as well as indirect negative effects on intention to leave the profession through its negative influence on intention to leave the organisation.

Conclusions: Strong evidence points out the importance of making plans to reduce nurses' intentions to leave their organisation and profession, to increase the structural empowerment in organisations and to reduce workplace incivility is presented.

Implications for nursing management: The results of this study can provide guidance for managers attempting to improve working conditions for nurses by drawing attention to the various factors affecting nurses' intentions to leave.

Keywords: coworker incivility; intention to leave; structural empowerment; supervisor incivility.