Association between organizational support and turnover intention in nurses: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Aims To synthesize and evaluate the association between organizational support and turnover intention in nurses. Design: We applied the Cochrane criteria and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines for our review and meta-analysis. The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42023447109). Data sources: We searched PubMed, Medline, Scopus, Cinahl, Web of Science, and Cochrane from inception to July 21, 2023. Review Methods: Heterogeneity between results was high. Thus, we applied a random effect model to estimate pooled correlation coefficient between organizational support and turnover intention. Results A total of eight studies with 5,754 nurses were included. We found a moderate negative correlation between organizational support and turnover intention since the pooled correlation coefficient was − 0.32. A leave-one-out sensitivity analysis showed that our results were stable when each study was excluded. Egger’s test and funnel plot suggested the absence of publication bias in the eight studies. Subgroup analysis showed that the negative correlation between organizational support and turnover intention was stronger in studies in China and Australia than those in Europe. Conclusion Organizational support has a moderate negative correlation with turnover intention in nurses. However, our study had several limitations and we cannot generalize our results. Thus, further studies should be conducted to assess the independent effect of organizational support on turnover intention in a more valid way. Impact: Since organizational support is related with turnover intention, healthcare systems, organizations, and policy makers should develop and implement appropriate interventions to support nurses and improve working conditions. Nursing managers should draw attention to organizational support by developing effective clinical practice guidelines for nurses, so as to reduce turnover intention.