Effect of Nursing Professionalism on Turnover Intention among Nurses: The Mediating Effect of Job Embeddedness

Purpose This study investigates the mediating effect of job embeddedness in the relationship between nursing professionalism and turnover intention among clinical nurses. Methods A nationwide online survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire. Participants included 204 clinical nurses from tertiary hospitals in South Korea. Data on general characteristics, nursing professionalism, job embeddedness, and turnover intention were collected through self-reported questionnaires from March 19 to March 22, 2024. The analysis involved descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, one-way analysis of variance, Scheffé test, Pearson's correlation coefficients, multiple linear regression analysis, and bootstrapping, using IBM SPSS version 29.0 and the SPSS PROCESS macro version 4.2 programs. Results The mean score of nursing professionalism was 3.48±0.45 out of 5, job embeddedness was 3.13±0.52 out of 5, and turnover intention was 2.80±1.00 out of 5. Nursing professionalism did not directly impact turnover intention (B=-0.07, p=.649). Job embeddedness acted as a mediating factor in the relationship between nursing professionalism and turnover intention (B=-0.46, p<.05). Conclusion These findings suggest that increasing job embeddedness can reduce nurses' turnover intention. Therefore, to decrease nurses' turnover intention, it is essential to enhance nursing professionalism while simultaneously promoting job embeddedness.