Do temperament and character make sense in reducing nurse turnover? The role of professional capabilities improvement

Background: A critical shortage of nurses worldwide makes research necessary to address the problem. Research examining whether and how temperament and character may lead to nurses' professional turnover intention can offer insights to address the nurse shortage issue. Purpose: To examine the impact of temperament and character on nurses' intention and actions to improve professional capabilities and professional turnover intention. Method: This study surveyed 502 nurses in a major medical centre in Taiwan in 2018. The measures came from the literature. Structural Equation Modeling was used for analysis. Results: Self-directedness, cooperativeness, and persistence were positively related to intention (or actions) to improve professional capabilities. Harm avoidance was negatively related to actions to improve professional capabilities. Such actions were subsequently negatively related to nurses' professional turnover intention. Conclusions: This study contributes to the literature by being the first to clarify how nurses' temperament and character dimensions may lead to professional turnover intention. Implications for Healthcare Managers: Our findings contribute insights for healthcare managers, i.e. they should pay particular attention to nurses with high levels of harm avoidance or low levels of persistence, self-directedness, and cooperativeness to retain nurses and, thus, improve the quality of a healthcare system.