“Yuck, that’s disgusting!”—“No, not to me!”: Antecedents of disgust in geriatric care and its relation to emotional exhaustion and intention to leave

Core disgust is a common but hushed up stressor in nursing. We seek to change this problematic situation by examining several antecedents (e.g., emotional self-efficacy, job autonomy) and consequences of core disgust (e.g., emotional exhaustion, intention to leave) based on affective events theory. Furthermore, we investigate the moderating role of organizational identification in the relation between inauthenticity and intention to leave, proposing that high identification buffers negative effects. Data were collected from 423 geriatric nurses working in 50 care institutions. Multi-level structural equation model was applied and indicated a good data fit of our model. Emotional self-efficacy and job autonomy were negatively associated with core disgust; core disgust was positively related to inauthenticity and emotional exhaustion. Indirect effects were identified for core disgust on intention to leave, mediated by inauthenticity and emotional exhaustion. Finally, organizational identification was a significant moderator. Thus, an appropriate coping with core disgust is important for (geriatric) nurses’ health and should deserve more attention in research on turnover.