Nurse Retention in Kerala

 Nurse retention is a critical issue facing healthcare organizations worldwide, particularly amidst the ongoing nursing shortage and the escalating costs associated with replacing nurses. Understanding and addressing the factors that contribute to nurse turnover is crucial for ensuring the stability and effectiveness of healthcare systems. Job embeddedness theory (JET) has emerged as a promising framework for comprehending the dynamics of nurse retention.

JET posits that individuals become embedded in their jobs through three primary dimensions: links, fit, and sacrifice (Mitchell, 1974). Links encompass the social connections an individual cultivates with colleagues, supervisors, and the broader organization. Fit refers to the degree of alignment between an individual's job characteristics and their personal values, interests, and skills. Sacrifice signifies the costs an individual would incur if they were to leave their current employment.

Nurse retention is a critical issue facing healthcare organizations worldwide, particularly amidst the ongoing nursing shortage and the escalating costs associated with replacing nurses. Understanding and addressing the factors that contribute to nurse turnover is crucial for ensuring the stability and effectiveness of healthcare systems. Job embeddedness theory (JET) has emerged as a promising framework for comprehending the dynamics of nurse retention.

JET posits that individuals become embedded in their jobs through three primary dimensions: links, fit, and sacrifice (Mitchell, 1974). Links encompass the social connections an individual cultivates with colleagues, supervisors, and the broader organization. Fit refers to the degree of alignment between an individual's job characteristics and their personal values, interests, and skills. Sacrifice signifies the costs an individual would incur if they were to leave their current employment.

Prior research has established a positive association between job embeddedness and nurse retention (Allen & Meyer, 1990). However, the majority of this research has been conducted in Western countries, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of job embeddedness and nurse retention in developing countries, particularly in regions like India.When examining organizational embeddedness, particularly on-the-job embeddedness, regression analysis results show that organizational sacrifice does not statistically significantly explain the relationship between the three main study variables and job performance, despite its correlation with work performance. The sacrifice factor in the comprehensive model does not appear to significantly alter nurses' overall work performance, despite its acknowledged correlation with work performance.

Ultimately, the research findings clearly refute the null hypothesis and provide evidence for an actual relationship between work performance and on-the-job embeddedness. These results contribute to our understanding of the complex relationships between job embeddedness factors and work performance. Moreover, they provide organizations with useful information about how to strategically improve performance outcomes by increasing the embeddedness of nurses in their workforce. This makes the study a useful starting point for future investigations aiming to explore the intricate relationship between job performance and organizational embeddedness in healthcare settings.

Prior research has established a positive association between job embeddedness and nurse retention (Allen & Meyer, 1990). However, the majority of this research has been conducted in Western countries, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of job embeddedness and nurse retention in developing countries, particularly in regions like India.

Shibla Sherin. P, Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, Al Shifa College of Arts and Science, Kizhattoor, Perinthalmanna