Organizational climate and occupational stressors as predictors of withdrawal behaviours and injuries in nurses

Withdrawal behaviours (defined here as turnover and absenteeism) and work-related injuries are a significant problem in the nursing profession and are commonly attributed to the stressful nature of the job. This study examines an occupation-specific model of the stress process in nurses in which specific organizational climate dimensions mere hypothesized to affect withdrawal behaviours and injuries both directly and indirectly through the mediating effects of specific occupational stressors. Regression analyses on the responses of 252 nurses revealed direct climate-stressor and stressor-outcome relationships to exist, as well as an indirect climate-outcome relationship. The findings suggest that researchers/practitioners should concentrate on developing interventions designed to affect specific stressors and their antecedents rather than focusing on generic stress reduction interventions and global measures.