Workplace justice and intention to leave the nursing profession

Background: Poor psychosocial work environments are considered critical factors of nurses’ intention to leave their profession. Workplace injustice has been proven to increase the incidence of psychiatric morbidity among workers. However, few studies have directly investigated the effect of workplace justice on nurses’ intention to leave their profession and the population attributable risk among nurses. Objective: This study identified factors associated with workplace justice and nurses’ intention to leave the profession. Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a self-administered structured questionnaire. Approximately 10% of all secondary referral centers in Taiwan were stratified and randomly sampled. Multiple logistic regression and population attributable risks were preformed to assess the effect of workplace justice on nurses’ intention to leave the nursing profession. Ethical considerations: This study was approved by the Research and Ethical Committee of National Taiwan University Hospital. Only nurses who consented to the study participated in the survey. Result: A total of 2268 nurses were recruited, of whom 1417 (62.5%) satisfactorily completed the questionnaire. The participants were classified and 342 (24.1%) of them were placed into the low workplace justice group. Nurses with low workplace justice had a higher intention of leaving the profession (adjusted odds ratio = 1.34, 95% confidence interval = 1.02–1.77). “Employees’ opinions are influential in hospital’s decision making” and “employees’ performance is evaluated fairly” were the most influential factors of the participants’ intention to quit. The adjusted population attributable risk was 3.7% for low workplace justice. Conclusion: This study has identified that workplace justice is a protective factor of nurses’ leaving their current profession. A fair performance appraisal system and increased autonomy at work are warranted to dissuade nurses from leaving the nursing profession.