Introduction
The early years of practice represent a significant
confidence-building phase for newly-graduated nurses
( £ 3 years of practice), yet many new members are
exposed to disempowering experiences and incivility in
the workplace (McKenna et al. 2003, Cho et al. 2006).
Feeling undervalued by other nurses, neglected, overwhelmed,
distressed by conflict and having opportunities
blocked have been widely reported (McKenna et al.
2003). In response to such disempowering experiences,
Griffin (2005) found that 60% of new-to-practice
nurses leave their first professional position within
6 months, with 20% leaving the profession forever. The
concept of a revolving door, where new graduates
enter as fast as they leave, is prevalent in the literature,
and presents a troubling reality for the nursing profession
and society at large. With the pending influx of
older persons in the health care system as the baby
boomer generation ages, along with many nurses
approaching retirement, the nursing shortage is projected
to increase (Longo 2007). Understanding the
factors that influence new graduates sense of organizational
commitment is therefore critical to prevent
further attrition of new members.
According to Berliner and Ginzberg (2002), the
inability of hospitals to retain new nurses is a significant
issue confronting the profession. The cost to
replace even one newly-graduated nurse is an estimated
$88 000.00 U.S. per nurse (Jones 2008). Such a
loss could have a significant influence on organizational
functioning as a whole, with a particular threat
to patient care. High-quality patient care is dependent
on a fully committed and engaged workforce in an
environment that empowers nurses to provide the care
they were educated to provide (Cho et al. 2006). As
newly-graduated nurses have characterized their transition
to the workforce as stressful, wrought with
conflict, and leading to withdrawal (Duncan 1997),
their ability to provide such care may be compromised.
Impaired relationships amongst nurses have also been
associated with errors, accidents and poor performance
(Farrell 1997). Thus, to retain new members in
todays health care organizations, providing empowering,
civil working conditions may facilitate future
retention efforts to combat these negative outcomes.
Workplace empowerment is an important predictor of
organizational commitment in the staff nurse population
(Laschinger et al. 2001a). Thus, Kanters (1977)
theory of organizational empowerment is appropriate
when exploring similar outcomes for newly-graduated
nurses.
To date, few studies have explored Kanters (1977)
theory in relation to the newly-graduated nurse population.
Therefore, the purpose of the present study
was to test an expanded model of empowerment
(Laschinger et al. 2001b) by examining the influence of
structural empowerment, psychological empowerment
and workplace incivility on the organizational commitment
of newly-graduated nurses.