Serial multiple mediation of psychological empowerment and job burnout in the relationship between workplace bullying and turnover intention among Chinese novice nurses

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to examine the direct and indirect effects of workplace bullying on turnover intention using the serial multiple mediators of psychological empowerment and job burnout. Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted. Methods: A convenience sample of 506 novice nurses from five Triple A hospitals in China's S province from November 2020 to February 2021 and were evaluated using online questionnaires on workplace bullying, psychological empowerment, job burnout, and turnover intention. Results: The prevalence of turnover intention was 51.9%. In the serial multiple mediator model, workplace bullying had a direct effect (c = 0.452, p < 0.001) and indirect effect (c' = 0.229, p < 0.001) on turnover intention through the serial multiple mediators of psychological empowerment (B = −0.093, p = 0.020) and job burnout (B = 0.127, p < 0.001); hence, the proposed model explained the total variance of 32.2% in turnover intention. Patient or public contribution: Nursing managers should use effective measures for strengthening the psychological empowerment to minimize novice nurse burnout and turnover intention resulting from workplace bullying.