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. 2019 May 30;17(1):93.
doi: 10.1186/s12955-019-1164-3.

The impact of workplace violence on job satisfaction, job burnout, and turnover intention: the mediating role of social support

Xiaojian Duan  1 , Xin Ni  2 , Lei Shi  1 , Leijing Zhang  3 , Yuan Ye  1 , Huitong Mu  4 , Zhe Li  2 , Xin Liu  5 , Lihua Fan  6 , Yongchen Wang  7
Affiliations

The impact of workplace violence on job satisfaction, job burnout, and turnover intention: the mediating role of social support

Xiaojian Duan et al. Health Qual Life Outcomes. .

Abstract

Background: Workplace violence (WPV) is a global public health problem and has caused a serious threat to the physical and mental health of healthcare workers. Moreover, WPV also has an adverse effect on the workplace behavior of healthcare workers. This study has three purposes: (1) to identify the prevalence of workplace violence against physicians; (2) to examine the association between exposure to WPV, job satisfaction, job burnout and turnover intention of Chinese physicians and (3) to verify the mediating role of social support.

Methods: A cross-sectional study adopted a purposive sampling method to collect data from March 2017 through May 2017. A total of nine tertiary hospitals in four provinces, which provide healthcare from specialists in a large hospital after referral from primary and secondary care, were selected as research sites based on their geographical locations in the eastern, central and western regions of China. Descriptive analyses, a univariate analysis, a Pearson correlation, and a mediation regression analysis were used to estimate the prevalence of WPV and impact of WPV on job satisfaction, job burnout, and turnover intention.

Results: WPV was positively correlated with turnover intention (r = 0.238, P < 0.01) and job burnout (r = 0.150, P < 0.01), and was negatively associated with job satisfaction (r = - 0.228, P < 0.01) and social support (r = - 0.077, P < 0.01). Social support was a partial mediator between WPV and job satisfaction, as well as burnout and turnover intention.

Conclusions: The results show a high prevalence of workplace violence in Chinese tertiary hospitals, which should not be ignored. The effects of social support on workplace behaviors suggest that it has practical implications for interventions to promote the stability of physicians' teams.

Trial registration: (Project Identification Code: HMUIRB2014005), Registered March 1, 2014.

Keywords: Burnout; Job satisfaction; Mediating role; Social support; Turnover intention; Workplace violence.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The mediating role of SS in explaining the relation between the WPV and JS of physicians (path 1 in Table 4). N = 1257; controlled for age, marital status, professional title, employment form, department, years of experience, and daily working hours; WPV, workplace violence; JS, job satisfaction; SS, social support; a = direct effect of WPV on mediator; b = direct effect of mediator on JS; c = total effect of WPV on JS; c′ = direct effect of WPV on JS
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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