The effects of work readiness, organizational justice and professional identity on the work performance of new nurses: a cross-sectional survey.

Background: With the evolution of disease patterns and the continuous pursuit of persons for high-quality nursing services, new nurses are the reserve talents of the nursing team and shoulder a major mission. However, due to their low work performance and high turnover rate, this is not conducive to the stable development of nursing teams, and it is urgent to solve this problem. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of work readiness on the work performance of new nurses, focusing on the mediating role of organizational justice and professional identity.

Method: A cross-sectional design was employed. Using convenience sampling methods, 607 new nurses were surveyed in 5 hospitals in Henan Province, China, from January to February 2023. Data were collected using demographic characteristics questionnaire, the Work Performance Scale, the Work Readiness Scale for Graduate Nurses, the Organizational Justice Scale, and the Professional Identity Rating Scale for Nurses. AMOS 26.0 was used for model drawing and mediation path testing, and SPSS 25.0 was used for data analysis.

Results: The mediation model shows a good fit (χ2 /df = 2.747, CFI = 0.987, GFI = 0.948, AGFI = 0.926, TLI = 0.984, IFI = 0.987, and RMSEA = 0.054). In this study, we found professional identity is a mediating variable between work readiness and the work performance of new nurses (β = 0.113, P<0.01), organizational justice is a mediating variable between work readiness and the work performance of new nurses (β = 0.269, P<0.01) and Organizational justice and professional identity play a chain mediating role in work readiness and work performance (β = 0.066, P<0.01).

Conclusions: The study highlights the importance of improving the work performance of new nurses. To improve work performance, managers should create a fair atmosphere, formulate transparent policies, improve the organizational justice of new nurses, and promote the professional identity and work readiness of new nurses by holding activities or conducting lectures. This will help stabilize the nursing team, improve the medical environment, stimulate the work enthusiasm of new nurses, and contribute to the development of the hospital.