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 SPSS/WIN version 29.0 and the SPSS PROCESS macro 4.2 version 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.