Nursing work environment, value congruence and their relationships with nurses’ work outcomes

Abstract

AIMS: To explore the relationships between work environment, value congruence and nurses' work outcomes; as well as to test the moderating effects of value congruence. BACKGROUND: A poor nursing work environment in most of mainland China has negatively influenced nurses' job satisfaction, burnout and turnover intention. New insights such as improving nurses' value congruence should be proposed to better foster nurses. METHODS: Cross-sectional data were selected from the Chinese Nurses' Environment of Work Status study. In total, 19149 valid samples were collected. Hierarchical regression analyses and simple slope analyses were performed. RESULTS: The correlation coefficients of the variables were all significant (p < .01) and in the expected direction. Value congruence moderated the relationship between nursing work environment and burnout (emotional exhaustion: β = 0.106, p < .01; depersonalization: β = 0.111, p < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Nursing work environment and value congruence were positively related to job satisfaction, and negatively related to burnout and turnover intention. The adverse impact of poor work environment on nurses' burnout can be buffered if nurses' value congruence is compatible with that of the organisation. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Except for improving the organisational characteristics, value congruence is a useful concept that managers can leverage to improve positive outcomes for both the organisation and its nurses.