Influences of Nurses’ Turnover Intention: Comparison Between Pre- and Post-COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose: This study examined the factors that influence nurse turnover intention and, in particular, the differential factors that affected nurses’ turnover intention in crises such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: This study utilized data from the Graduates Occupational Mobility Survey (GOMS), which was collected over several years. The study used data from the most recent three waves (2017∼2019) of the survey, which were conducted both before and after the outbreak of COVID-19, and a logit model was used for empirical analysis. Results: The analysis found that personal factors, such as gender, marital status, reasons for having chosen the nursing major, and organizational and work-related factors, such as working hours, job satisfaction, and perceptions of human resource management, influenced nurses’ intention to leave their jobs. In particular, analyzing the differences in influencing factors by varying points in time revealed that the reasons the nurses had chosen the nursing profession proved statistically significant. Conclusion: Job satisfaction consistently emerged as a significant factor that influenced nurses’ turnover intention, regardless of temporal or contextual changes. The relationship between lower turnover intention and an internally motivated (as opposed to externally motivated) decision to pursue the nursing major was stronger during the COVID-19 pandemic than before it. This finding underscores the importance of promoting nurses’ internal motivations to reduce their turnover intention, especially in challenging work conditions.