Nurses’ well‐being and implications for human resource management: A systematic literature review

Abstract As the largest workforce to provide patient care in the healthcare industry, nurses’ well‐being issues have attracted increasing research and practical attention. Extant studies have identified diverse causes of nurses’ poor states of well‐being. However, little research has offered a holistic evaluation that brings cross‐level factors together to untangle the complexity of nurses’ well‐being. Current literature has yet to capture the different but inter‐connected nature of three dimensions of nurses’ well‐being (health, happiness, and relationships). In 2020 and 2021, we conducted a systematic search of various academic databases. Based on a systematic review of 91 articles published between 1994 and 2020, we have created a multi‐perspective, multi‐level, and multi‐faceted model of nurses’ well‐being. In doing so, we contribute to contemporary literature in three ways. First, based on a combination of the job demands‐resources (JDR) model and social exchange theory, we provide a comprehensive understanding of multi‐level factors influencing nurses’ well‐being. Second, we identify three different but inter‐linked facets of nurses’ well‐being (health‐, happiness‐, and relationship‐related well‐being). Third, we adopt various perspectives to identify the process through which well‐being‐oriented human resource management (HRM) enhances nurses’ well‐being. We encourage healthcare organizations to implement well‐being‐oriented HRM by investing in nursing staff, providing engaging work, improving nurses’ voices, creating nursing‐friendly work environments, and offering multiple job‐related supports.