An ecological model of turnover intentions among nurses in Ireland

High turnover among Irish nurses remains a persistent workforce challenge, creating the need to better understand the factors that shape nurses' intentions to leave. Against this backdrop, this paper examines the predictors of turnover intentions within the Irish nursing workforce.

Using an ecosystem organizing model, we analyze how individual nurse characteristics, job-related variables, and organizational factors interact to shape a nurse's turnover intentions.

A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study across a large public hospital group in Ireland.

Data collection took place between September and October 2022 across five different hospital sites, with 263 qualified nurses completing the survey. Turnover intentions were measured using Roodt's Turnover Intention Scale. Linear regression models were constructed controlling for individual characteristics (age, level of employment, length of service, and domestically vs. internationally trained nurses), job-related variables (job satisfaction and employee engagement), and organizational factors (organizational commitment, organizational citizenship, shared leadership, and hospital size).

Bivariate analysis showed significant correlations between turnover intentions and job satisfaction, organizational commitment, employee engagement, shared leadership, and organizational citizenship behavior. In the fully adjusted model job satisfaction (β=-1.65,p<.001), organizational commitment (β=-1.33,p<.001), shared leadership (β=-0.98,p<.01) and hospital size (β=1.35,p<.01) demonstrated the strongest associations with turnover intentions.

The use of an ecosystem organizing model sheds light on individual, job, and organizational factors that jointly shape turnover intentions, highlighting key predictors that should inform targeted retention strategies to support a more sustainable nursing workforce.