Kristen Leighton

Aims: To examine whether professional quality of life, team cohesion, and organizational commitment were independently associated with intent to leave among nursing personnel. Background: Prior research links professional quality of life with turnover intention, but less is known about joint associations with team cohesion and multidimensional organizational commitment in nursing workforces. Methods: A cross‐sectional electronic survey of 633 nursing personnel in North Dakota used validated measures. Pearson correlations, multiple regression, and post hoc nested regression were conducted. Results: The full model explained 47% of intent‐to‐leave variance. Burnout was positively associated with intent to leave ( β = 0.40, p < 0.001), whereas affective commitment ( β = −0.41, p < 0.001) and continuance commitment ( β = −0.10, p = 0.003) were inversely associated. Secondary traumatic stress (STS) was positively correlated with intent to leave ( r = 0.16) but negatively associated after adjustment ( β = −0.11, p = 0.005); its coefficient reversed when burnout entered. Conclusions: Intent to leave was associated with occupational strain and organizational attachment. The STS reversal is consistent with statistical suppression and should not be interpreted as protective. Implications for Nursing Management: Findings identify burnout and affective commitment as priorities for prospective strategy testing. Longitudinal research should determine whether modifying these domains reduces intent to leave or turnover.