The protective role of professional self-concept and job embeddedness on nurses’ burnout: structural equation modeling

BACKGROUND: Job embeddedness and professional self-concept are among the important nursing components, the existence of which help decrease occupational burnout among nurses. This study aimed to determine the protective role of Professional Self-concept and Job embeddedness on nurses’burnout. METHODS: This descriptive, correlational study had a predictive design and was conducted on nurses working in training and healthcare centers of Babol University of Medical Sciences in 2019. In total, 308 nurses participated in this study and were selected by stratified random sampling. In addition, data were collected using demographic characteristics questionnaire, Professional Self-concept questionnaire, Job embeddedness scale and nurses’ burnout questionnaire. Moreover, data analysis was performed in SPSS version 25 and Smart PLS version 3.3 using correlational statistics and structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Both the variables of professional self-concept and job embeddedness, had a significant effect on nurses’ burnout at 99% confidence level (P < 0.001) and the negative beta value for these two variables shows the inverse relationship between both professional self-concept and job embeddedness with nurses’ burnout. The value of the coefficient of determination for burnout indicates that both the variables of professional self-concept and job embeddedness, together explain 78% of the changes in the variable of burnout. The beta coefficient for professional self-concept (− 0.50) is higher than the same coefficient for job embeddedness (− 0.42). As a result, the role of professional self-concept in predicting burnout of clinical nurses has been more than the role of job embeddedness. The indirect effect of professional self-concept on burnout of clinical nurses mediated by job embeddedness has been equal to − 0.347. As a result, it can be said that nurses’ professional self-concept has a significant effect on nurses’ burnout through mediation of job embeddedness. CONCLUSION: According to the results of the study, Professional Self-concept had an effective role in nurses’ burnout. In other words, the higher the Professional Self-concept of nurses, the lower their burnout. Therefore, it is suggested that effective interventional strategies be designed by nursing managers through better planning and a supportive workplace be established to improve Professional Self-concept among nurses and decrease their burnout. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12912-021-00727-8.