The effect of organizational justice on young nurses' turnover intention: The mediating roles of organizational climate and emotional labour

Aim: This study aims to explore the effect of organizational justice on young nurses' turnover intention and the roles of organizational climate and emotional labour in this relationship. Background: The shortage of nursing resources has become a growing problem in countries worldwide. As the main representatives of the nursing force, young nurses have high turnover intentions, which aggravates the possibility of nursing shortages. As an important variable affecting the turnover intention of young nurses, the mechanism underlying the impact of organizational justice should be studied in depth. Design: A descriptive cross-sectional design was employed. Methods: From November to December 2022, an online questionnaire survey was conducted among 1160 young clinical nurses from 5 hospitals in Henan Province, China. The scales used in this study include the organizational justice scale, the turnover intention scale, the organizational climate scale and the emotional labour scale. AMOS 26.0 was used for model drawing and mediation path testing, and SPSS 25.0 was used for data analysis. This study complies with the STROBE Statement of Observational Studies. Results: In general, the young nurses surveyed had high turnover intentions (14.82+/-4.44). Organizational justice has a negative predictive effect on young nurses' turnover intention (r = -0.465, P<0.01). Organizational climate and emotional labour play a chain mediating role in the relationship between organizational justice and young nurses' turnover intention (beta = 0.051). Conclusions: Organizational justice is significantly related to the turnover intention of young nurses, and organizational climate and emotional labour play a chain mediating role in the relationship between organizational justice and turnover intention. Therefore, nursing managers should pay attention not only to organizational justice but also to the influence of organizational climate and emotional labour on the turnover intention of young nurses.