Resilience as a moderator of the indirect effects of conflict and workload on job outcomes among nurses

Aim: To examine the relative effects of interpersonal conflict and workload on job outcomes (turnover intentions, burnout, injuries) and examine if resilience moderates the indirect effects of conflict and workload on job outcomes via job-related negative effect. Background: There is interest in understanding resilience in the nursing profession. Placing resilience in the context of the Emotion-Centred Model of Occupational Stress (Spector,) is a novel approach to understanding how resilience ameliorates the negative effects of workplace stressors. Design: This study used a two-wave survey design to collect data from 97 nurses across medical units. Methods: Nurses working in the US were recruited in June 2014 using Qualtrics Panels, an online survey platform service that secures participants for research. Nurses were contacted via email at two time points, two weeks apart and provided a link to an online survey. SPSS v. 23 and PROCESS v2.15 were used to analyse regressions and moderated mediation. Results/Findings: Interpersonal conflict predicted turnover intentions and burnout; workload predicted injuries. Job-related negative affect mediated the relationships between stressors and job outcomes except for the direct effect of workload on injuries. Low resilience increased the magnitude of the indirect effects of conflict on job outcomes. Conclusion: Job characteristics like workload predicted unique variability in self-reported physical injuries. Conflict at work, a social stressor, predicted well-being and job attitudes. Highly resilient nurses bounced back after experiencing conflict in the workplace. Resilience should be explored for its potential as a method to reduce the negative effects of social stressors.