Effects of positive psychological capital, social support and head nurses' authentic leadership on organizational commitment of nurses at the advanced beginner stage

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify factors influencing organizational commitment of nurses at the advanced beginner stage by examining relationships between positive psychological capital, social support, head nurses' authentic leadership and organizational commitment. Methods: One hundred and ten nurses at the advanced beginner stage were recruited from a tertiary hospital. Their clinical experience was from over 13 months to less than 36 months. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires which were used to identify participants' characteristics, positive psychological capital, social support, head nurses' authentic leadership and organizational commitment. Results: The organizational commitment score was 3.16±0.43 points. The results of the stepwise multiple regression showed that factors affecting organizational commitment of nurses at the advanced beginner-stage were head nurse's authentic leadership, positive psychological capital, and job satisfaction in current working department, indicating that these three variables accounted for 25% of organizational commitment. Conclusion: The findings from this study indicate that the authentic leadership of head nurses needs to be enhanced to increase the organizational commitment of nurses at the advanced beginner-stage, also a program needs to be developed to improve their positive psychological capital.