Abusive supervision and turnover intention: Mediating effects of psychological empowerment of nurses

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine the mediating effects of psychological empowerment on abusive supervision and turnover intention as perceived by nurses to provide information to change the status of nurse turnover. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey (a questionnaire examining perceptions of abusive supervision, measurement of psychological empowerment, and questionnaire for turnover intention) was used to collect data. A total of 1127 clinical nurses, who were recruited through convenience sampling, participated in the survey. RESULTS: Nurses’ average perceived abusive supervision, psychological empowerment, and turnover intention scores were 1.62 ± 0.95, 3.24 ± 0.83, and 14.17 ± 3.78, respectively. Psychological empowerment was found to mediate the relationship between abusive supervision and turnover intention (P < 0.01). Turnover intention tends to be stronger and psychological empowerment reduced when nurse managers adopt an abusive leadership style. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses' psychological empowerment is an intermediary variable that predicts the relationship between abusive supervision and turnover intention. Nurse managers should manage abusive supervision to increase nurses’ psychological empowerment and decrease turnover intention.