Helen Nichols, 3rd Year Doctoral Student, and Professors Swanberg and Bright, publish paper in The Health Care Manager. The paper, "How Does Supervisor Support Influence Turnover Intent Among Frontline Hospital Workers?," examines the relationship between supervisor support and turnover among hospital housekeeping and dietary service workers at two major US Hospitals.
Abstract: Turnover among frontline hospital service workers can disrupt organizational effectiveness, reduce profitability, and limit the ability to provide high-quality, patient-centered care. This concern is compounded by the increasing reliance on frontline supervisors to manage this workforce, often without necessary training and support. However, research addressing the relationship between frontline supervisor support and intent to turnover among service workers and the process by which these variables are related is limited. By surveying 270 housekeeping and dietary service workers employed at 2 US hospitals, this study examined the relationship between supervisor support and turnover intent and assessed the mediating role of affective commitment between supervisor support and intent to turnover. Turnover intentions were lower for workers who reported greater levels of supervisor support and affective commitment; both supervisor support and affective commitment were significant predictors of turnover intent when tested individually. However, when controlling for affective commitment, supervisor support no longer predicted turnover intent, indicating that affective commitment fully mediated the relationship between supervisor support and intent to turnover. Implications for further research and organizational practice are discussed.
For the full article, please see: Nichols, H. M., Swanberg, J. S., & Bright, C. L. How does supervisor support influence turnover intent among frontline hospital workers? The mediating role of affective commitment. Health Care Manager, 35(3), 266 – 279.