Construction of a new model of job engagement, psychological empowerment and perceived work environment among Chinese registered nurses at four large university hospitals: implications for nurse managers seeking to enhance nursing retention and quality of

Aim To explore the relationships among perceived work environment, psychological empowerment and job engagement of clinical nurses in Harbin, China. Background Previous studies have focused on organisational factors or nurses’ personal characteristics contributing to job engagement. Limited studies have examined the effects of perceived work environment and psychological empowerment on job engagement among Chinese nurses. Method A cross-sectional quantitative survey with 923 registered nurses at four large university hospitals in China was carried out. Research instruments included the Chinese versions of the perceived nurse work environment scale, the psychological empowerment scale and the job engagement scale. The relationships of the variables were tested using structural equation modelling. Results Structural equation modelling revealed a good fit of the model, χ2/df = 4.46, GFI = 0.936, CFI = 0.957. Perceived work environment was a significant positive direct predictor of psychological empowerment and job engagement. Psychological empowerment was a significant positive direct contributor to job engagement and had a mediating effect on the relationship between perceived work environment and job engagement. Conclusions Perceived work environment may result in increased job engagement by facilitating the development of psychological empowerment. Implications for nursing management For nurse managers wishing to increase nurse engagement and to achieve effective management, both perceived work environment and psychological empowerment are factors that need to be well controlled in the process of nurse administration.