Korean J Occup Health Nurs.  2011 Aug;20(2):130-142.

The Relationship of Emotional Labor, Empowerment, Job Burnout and Turnover Intention of Clinical Nurses

• Lee KJ
• Lee E

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to identify the relationships among emotional labor, empowerment, job burnout, and turnover intention.
METHODS
The design of this study was a cross-sectional descriptive study. The subjects of this study were 358 nurses working for over 6 months in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. The data were collected from 4th to 30th of September, 2009 through one-to-one interviews. Survey data were analyzed using t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and hierarchical regression.
RESULTS
We find the positive correlation of turnover intention with emotional labor and with job burnout, but the negative correlation of empowerment with job burnout and with turnover intention. The nurses' turnover intention scores were relatively low with 1.30. Job burnout, shift work, and frequency of turnover were predictors of turnover intention. The most powerful predictor variable was job burnout (beta=.420, p<.001). We find that emotional labor and empowerment as determinants of turnover intention are not significant.
CONCLUSION
These results suggest that manager should consider shift work of nurses and job burnout in order to manage nurse organization and resource effectively.

Keyword

Emotional labor; Empowerment; Job burnout; Turnover intention

MeSH Terms

Intention
Power (Psychology)