Linking nursing students' professional identity, clinical learning environment, financial incentives, and career opportunities with migration intent: Structural equation modeling.

Aims: To investigate how nursing students' professional identity, clinical learning environment, financial incentives, and career opportunities influence their intention to migrate.

Background: There is a preponderance of studies about nurse migration and its impact on the global nursing workforce. However, a critical gap remains about nursing students' intentions to migrate, particularly among developing countries like the Philippines.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, third- and fourth-year nursing students (n = 316) from the largest comprehensive university in Manila were conveniently recruited. Data were collected from November to December 2023 using five validated self-report scales. Descriptive (e.g., mean, standard deviation) and inferential statistics (e.g., Spearman rho, covariance-based structural equation modeling) were used to analyze data.

Results: The emerging model demonstrated acceptable model fit indices. Nursing students' professional identity (β = 0.18, p = 0.043) and financial incentives (β = 0.10, p = 0.046) significantly and positively influence the intention to migrate. The satisfaction with future career opportunities (β = -0.12, p = 0.038) and clinical learning environment perception (β = -0.15, p = 0.048) negatively influence the intention to migrate. These four predictors accounted for 4.60% of the total variance of intention to migrate.

Conclusion: Nursing students' professional identity and financial incentives directly impact intent to migrate, whereas future career opportunities satisfaction and clinical learning environment inversely affect intent to migrate.

Implications for nursing practice and policy: This study underscores the imperative for nursing colleges and faculty to promote positive professional identity and provide a conducive clinical learning environment to develop sustainable nurses' migration policies.