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DOI: 10.1177/0969733013493215
2014 21: 278 originally published online 9 September 2013
Nurs Ethics
Fariba Borhani, Tayebe Jalali, Abbas Abbaszadeh and Aliakbar Haghdoost
Nurses' perception of ethical climate and organizational commitment
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What is This?
- Sep 9, 2013
OnlineFirst Version of Record
- Apr 30, 2014
Version of Record
Nurses’ perception of ethical
climate and organizational
commitment
Fariba Borhani
Medical Ethics and Law Research Center of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Tayebe Jalali
Medical Ethics and Law Research Center of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Abbas Abbaszadeh
Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran
Aliakbar Haghdoost
Research Center for Modeling in Health, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
Abstract
The high turnover of nurses has become a universal issue. The manner in which nurses view their organization’s ethical climate has direct bearing on their organizational commitment. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between nurses’ perception of ethical climate and organizational commitment in teaching hospitals in the southeastern region of Iran. A descriptive analytical design was used in this study. The sample consisted of 275 nurses working in four teaching hospitals in the southeastern region of Iran. The instruments used in this study included a demographic questionnaire, Ethical Climate Questionnaire, and Organizational Commitment Questionnaire. Data analysis was carried out using Pearson’s correlation, t-test, and descriptive statistic through Statistical Package for Social Science, version 16. The result of this research indicated a positive correlation among professionalism, caring, rules, independence climate, and organizational commitment. Therefore, findings of this study are a guideline for researchers and managers alike who endeavor to improve organizational commitment.
Keywords
Affective commitment, continuance commitment, ethical climate, normative commitment, nurses
Introduction
The issue of shortage of nurses and quitting nursing is a major problem in developed and developing countries, and Iran is no exception.1In the United States, the need for nursing services will increase
Corresponding author:Tayebe Jalali, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Haft Bagh Highway, Kerman, 7614868641, Iran. 2014, Vol. 21(3) 278–288
by almost 30%by 2020.2
The statistics reported in 2008 indicate that 90,026 nurses are employed in Iran, while 220,000 nurses are needed to provide adequate nursing services for patients. As reported by the ‘‘Nursing Organization of Iran,’’ 200 nurses with an average of 8 years work experience gained in Iran’s health system leave and migrate to other countries. There are numerous factors that lead to nurses’ leaving the profession, one of which is lack of organizational commitment of nurses.3
Organizational commitment indicates the employees’ degree of interest and attachment in an organi-zation, their acceptance of its objectives and values, and their desire to remain as a member within that organization.4
An efficient workforce is a major advantage of an organization over other organizations. A committed workforce highlights the organization’s reputation in the community and prepares the ground for its growth and development. Therefore, having highly motivated employees who are loyal to the organiza-tional values and are willing to perform beyond their usual job descriptions is vitally important for any organization.5Healthcare organizations also require committed individuals for improving their perfor-mance, attracting clients, and maintaining and promoting health in order to meet the needs of the com-munity. Given that nurses comprise a major part of the healthcare system, they play an important role in presenting health services in that healthcare organizations cannot succeed without an effective nursing workforce.6Today, one of the main challenges for healthcare organizations is retention of committed nurses in the workplace.
There is evidence indicating that nurses would be more satisfied and consequently stay in their jobs if they had been more committed to the organizational values and objectives.7Thus, managers ought to pay more attention to meeting the employees’ needs at work, so that they could have higher morale, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. One of the steps to be taken is provision of an appropriate moral atmosphere within the organization. An ethical climate shows employees’ understanding of their organization, affects their behavior and perception, and provides the ground for decision making and beha-viors.8In an ethical climate with humanitarian values, choice, and sense of belonging, employees are more satisfied with and committed to the organization.9As a result, nurses’ organizational commitments include better quality of care, reduced leaving of the profession, and reduced absenteeism.10An assessment of fac-tors affecting organizational commitment, such as the effect of the ethical climate, can provide reliable evi-dence for nursing managers in their long- and short-term planning.
The importance of this study
Studies on the moral climate are still not enough and strong evidence for us.Previous studies that have investi-gated ethical climate are all associated with business and there have been limited studies with respect to nursing. During our research, we only found studies by Tsai and Huang2and Filipova.9Goldman, in his 2010 study, suggests the need for further research into the subject of the impact of ethical climate on orga-nizational commitment in nursing.11
Closer to home, in the context of Iran, there is no published research looking at the correlation between ethical climate and nurses’ organizational commitment. This study was conducted in a southeastern town in Iran, and it is one of the first of its kind conducted in Iran.
Review of the literature
Some studies have pointed out the relationship between ethical climate and organizational commitment, including a study by Tsai and Huang on Taiwanese nurses in 2008, which showed a positive and significant correlation between affective and normative commitments and ethical climates of caring, rule, profession-alism, and independence and a negative correlation with instrumental climate. In addition, there is a positive and significant correlation between continuance commitment and instrument climate.2
Likewise, Filipova9in 2007 found a significant relationship between ethical climate and organizational commitment. Cullen et al. conducted two studies in 2003 investigate the effect of ethical climate on orga-nizational commitment of employees of 7 telephone companies and also 4 accounting firms. The results indicate that in both studies, there is a positive correlation between caring climate, rule, and professionalism and organizational commitment and a negative correlation between instrumental climate and organizational commitment of employees.12A study by Shafer13shows that in climates that are relatively instrumental, organizational identification is less observed among employees, while in climates with more emphasis on utilitarianism, deontology, or rules, employees tend to feel more identified with the organization. Employees with ethical work climate of caring are probably alien to climates that focus on maximizing per-sonal or organizational interest.
Organizational commitment
The concept of organizational commitment is complex and multidimensional, and can be defined as strongly believing in the organization and accepting its values, being willing to do one’s best for the orga-nization, and desiring to remain as a member of the organization.14Different models have been proposed for organizational commitment, but the Meyer and Allen4 model has received the most clinical trials and researchers’ support. It has been extensively used to assess organizational commitment because it illustrates the multidimensional nature of organizational commitment and defines organizational behaviors more appropriately. There is convincing body of evidence that the Meyer and Allen model is highly valid and reliable.4
According to Meyer and Allen,4organizational commitment consists of three parts of affective com-mitment, normative comcom-mitment, and continuance commitment. The affective commitment reflects emotional bonding of the employee and identification with values and objectives of the organization and the employee’s level of involvement. The normative commitment is a sense of duty and obligation to stay with the organization. Those with this type of commitment believe that remaining in the orga-nization is their duty and it is a debt that must be paid. Continuance commitment represents individual’s recognition and understanding of the costs associated with leaving the organization. Employees whose initial contact has been on the basis of continuance commitment will remain in the organization as they regard staying in the organization as a necessity for them.15According to Meyer and Allen,4a person with high affective commitment belongs to an organization because he or she wants to. An individual with high levels of continuance commitment stays with an organization because he or she needs to (i.e. they care about prestige, monetary incentives, and/or status). While individuals with high levels of nor-mative commitment stay with an organization because they feel that it is the ‘‘morally right’’ thing to do for the organization.4
Ethical climate
Theory of ethical climate.The concept of ethical work climate was first introduced by Cullen et al.12One dimension of work climate is defined as ‘‘shared perceptions of what is ethically correct and how ethical issues should be handled within an organization.’’16
Cullen et al.12reported that organizational ethical climates grow along dimensions similar to ethical the-ories. Major classes of ethical theory consist of egoism, utilitarianism, and deontology. A tendency to max-imize self-interest is characteristic of the egoism category of ethical theory, actual concern for the well-being of others is determined by utilitarianism, and allegiance to duties, rules, and laws is character-istic of the deontology category of ethical theory. Victor and Cullen have suggested that there are five dis-tinct types of organizational ethical climate, including caring, professionalism, rules, independence, and instrumental.9
Caring.A caring climate may be based on the utilitarianism ethical criterion,2in which the most important concern is what is best for others and people look out for each other’s interests, while the primary goal is to offer the greatest good for the greatest number of people.9
Professionalism.This dimension is related to the deontology ethical criterion. In this climate, the first consid-eration is whether a decision violates law and codes. People are expected to strictly follow legal or profes-sional standards, and the law or ethical code of the profession is the major consideration. People are expected to comply with legal and professional standards over and above all other considerations.2,11
Rules.The rules climate is related to the deontology ethical criterion.2Based on this climate, it is very impor-tant to follow the organization’s rules and procedures strictly and everyone is expected to do so. People in facilities with this climate follow organization policies to the letter.17
Independence.The independence dimension is associated with the deontology ethical criterion. In this climate, people are expected to follow their own personal and moral beliefs. Each person decides for himself or herself what is right or wrong; in other words, people are guided by their own personal ethics.2
Instrumental.This dimension is associated with the egoistic criterion, and its primary goal is to provide personal benefits. In this climate, people protect their own interests above all else and are mostly out for themselves.9
Victor and Cullen’s studies do suggest that one dominant criterion (egoism, utilitarianism, and deontol-ogy) will emerge in an organization and ultimately define the organization’s ethical climate. In addition, different dimensions of ethical climates may also exist within organizational departments.
Hypothesis 1: The ethical climate types of ‘‘caring,’’ ‘‘independent,’’ ‘‘professionalism,’’ and ‘‘rules’’ have significant positive influences on affective commitment, but the ethical climate type of ‘‘instrumental’’ has a significant negative influence.
Hypothesis 2: The ethical climate types of ‘‘caring,’’ ‘‘independent,’’ ‘‘professionalism,’’ and ‘‘rules,’’ have a significant positive influence on normative commitment, but the ethical climate type of ‘‘instrumental’’ has a significant negative influence.
Method
This is a descriptive analytical study carried out in 2011. The sample size was calculated to be 88 people, con-sideringa¼5%and the correlation coefficient between ethical climate and organizational commitment was 0.18. Due to modeling and examination of intervening factors, and maximum 5 variables in the final model, the sample size was upgraded to 185 people. To eliminate the effect of clustering, design effect¼1.5 was
considered and the final sample size was obtained to be 300 people. The statistical population under study was chosen out of nurses employed at various hospitals in the southeastern region of Iran who were selected randomly on a quota basis. This quota was determined according to the number of nurses in each ward and the number required. The study’s inclusion criteria were as follows: having a Bachelor or Master of Science degree in nursing and having been working as a nurse for more than 6 months on their present ward.
Participation was on a voluntary basis, and it was explained to nurses that they did not have to write down their names on the questionnaire and that all the information obtained would remain confidential. After obtain-ing university ethical committee (ethical committee code K/90/522) and head nurse approval, 300 question-naires were distributed to the four hospitals which had agreed to participate, and a total of 280 completed questionnaires were received. After deleting the missing cases, 275 questionnaires remained and constituted the sample for this study. The 275 questionnaires were personally completed by nurses. For the collection of data, Victor and Cullen’s Ethical Climate Questionnaire (ECQ) and Meyer and Allen’s Organizational Com-mitment Questionnaire (OCQ) were used.4,16The ECQ contains 26 items that investigate 5 types of ethical climates, namely, caring (items 1, 5, 7, 9, 15, 19), rule (items 2, 8, 10, 22), instrumental (items 6, 14, 16, 18, 20, 23, 25), professionalism (4, 12, 17, 24), and independence (3, 11, 13, 21), which are based on a 5-point Likert scale from 0 (completely false) to 5 (completely true). In each dimension, the answers were scored as follows: 0 (completely false), 1 (mostly false), 2 (sometimes false), 3 (sometimes true), 4 (mostly true), and 5 (completely true). The OCQ also contains 18 items, including three components of affective commitment (items 1 to 6), normative commitment (items 7 to 12), and continuance commitment (items 13 to 18), with every 6 questions measuring one of the three dimensions and based on a 7-point Likert scale from 1 (totally disagree) to 7 (totally agree). Each item was scored 1 for totally disagree, 2 for relatively disagree, 3 for dis-agree, 4 for no comment, 5 for relatively dis-agree, 6 for dis-agree, and 7 for totally agree. In order to have a more reasonable score, we computed the score means in the subscale question, which was a number between 1 and 5 for the ECQ and 1–7 for the OCQ, and then the range was converted to 0–20.
These questionnaires were first translated to Farsi, they were translated back to English, and consistency of the two English copies was examined. Their content validity was reviewed using the opinions of 10 faculty members specializing in ethics and management. Although the internal consistency of the ECQ has been investigated in previous studies (a¼0.86–0.92) (12), we examined the reliability of the translated scale using alpha coefficients for each of the domain scores. A Cronbach’s alpha higher than 0.70 indicated internal consistency: caring (0.747), instrumental (0.725), independence (0.711), professionalism (0.754), and rules (0.758). The Cronbach’s coefficients for affective commitment, normative commitment, and continuance commitment components of commitment were 0.869, 0.854, and 0.728, respectively.
Data obtained from the questionnaires were analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software, version 16, using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), and inferential statistics (Pearson’s correlation and independentt-test), to achieve the study objectives.
Results
(19.6%), and emergency wards (19.6%). A total of 21%of the participants worked in nonsurgical wards, 10.5% in surgical wards, 16.1%in special care units, and 6.9%in emergency wards. There were 69.9%participants who had less than 10 years of work experience, and 37.1%had over 10 years of experience. The mean age of the participants was 32.7 years, where a total of 82.2%were female and 53.6%were married.
To investigate the ethical climate according to Victor and Cullen’s16perspective, scores of the question-naire, summary, and results obtained were reported in tables. Accordingly, Table 1 shows mean, standard deviation, and rank of ethical climate governing hospitals under study from the nurses’ perspective. The ethical climate of professionalism scored the highest level of governing climate, and the least in the opinion of nurses was the instrumental climate.
Table 2 presents the mean and standard deviation of dimensions of organizational commitment of par-ticipating nurses, with the highest level of commitment associated with affective commitment and least level of commitment of nurses associated with continuance commitment.
Table 3 indicates that ethical climate has an impact on organizational commitment of nurses employed at Kerman University of Medical Sciences Hospitals in such a way that the more ethical the hospital climate is, the higher the organizational commitment of its personnel would become. According to these results, the climate of professionalism has a direct correlation with affective and normative commitments. The rule climate has a direct and significant correlation with only affective commitment, and caring climate too has a direct and significant correlation with affective and normative commitments and the same applies to inde-pendence climate. Finally, instrumental climate has no significant correlation with affective commitment. It must be noted that other than instrumental climate, none of the other four climates has any significant correlation with continuance commitment.
Discussion
Given the objectives of this study that was to determine the correlation between ethical climate and organizational commitment, results indicated that in general, there is a correlation between the two. This Table 1.The mean and standard deviations (SDs) for ethical climate dimensions.
Rank SD Mean Ethical climate
1 3.68 13.45 Professionalism
2 4.01 13.41 Rules
3 3.95 12.92 Caring
4 3.88 11.35 Independence
5 2.95 8.93 Instrumental
Means and SDs ranged between 0 and 20.
Table 2.The means and standard deviations (SDs) for components of organizational commitment dimensions.
Rank SD Mean Organizational commitment
1 2.68 10.35 Affective commitment
2 3.50 10.09 Normative commitment
3 3.28 9.84 Continuance commitment
4 2.29 10.09 Overall organizational commitment
finding concurs with results of studies in which there is a positive and significant correlation between organiza-tional commitment and individuals’ understanding of ethical climate, which means that the more ethical a hos-pital’s climate, the higher the organizational commitment could be expected of nurses.2,12,18–20Employees regard relationships and interactions within their organization as just if they feel the workplace climate is ethi-cal, and this makes for workers’ increased satisfaction and commitment. In addition, organizations with ethical climates endeavor not to use misleading methods and practices. Thus, ethical climate causes employees to have a positive outlook on their jobs and stay longer with their organizations and think less about leaving. Accordingly, Schwepker21believes a desirable ethical climate could play a role in increased job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and in contrast, it could reduce leaving intentions. Mulki et al.22found that ethical climate has a positive correlation with job satisfaction, and this leads to a reduc-tion in tendency to leave service and increased organizareduc-tional commitment and job performance.
The findings of this study showed that from the nurses’ perspective, the city of Kerman teaching hospi-tals climates are of the ‘‘professionalism’’ kind, followed by other climates of ‘‘rule,’’ ‘‘caring,’’ ‘‘indepen-dence,’’ and ‘‘instrumental’’ in order. Given that the mean scores of ethical climates of ‘‘professionalism’’ and ‘‘rule’’ are quite close (13.45 for professionalism and 13.41 for rules), it appears that in these hospitals, obeying the rules and professional standards and also practical requirement for adherence to the rules and organizational procedures are highly important. In similar studies, the first priority of nurses in identifica-tion of ethical climates in nursing has been professionalism. Similar results were observed in a Taiwanese study2and in another study in Russia investigating the ethical climate in an organization, where the most common climate governing the organization was found to be climate of professionalism.23
Existence of ethical climate of professionalism as the climate governing hospitals under study from the nurses’ perspective indicates that professional principles based on ethical codes and attention to profes-sional ideals, which are those of health improvement, are the first driving factor in development of ethical climate in hospitals. Considering scientific development of various subjects of health sciences, especially nursing in Iran and also development of complementary education, it is expected to see its effects in hospitals in the shape of impact on ethical climate and rule of professional principles.
Table 3.The relationship among ethical climate types and components of organizational commitment.
Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Professionalism 1.000
Rules 0.749 1.000
>0.001**
Caring 0.691 0.727 1.000
>0.001** >0.001**
Independence 0.114 0.009 0.126 1.000
0.062 0.880 0.037*
Instrumental 0.387 0.284 0.217 0.440 1.000
>0.001** >0.001** >0.001** >0.001**
Affective commitment 0.160 0.176 0.260 0.266 0.097 1.000 0.008** 0.003** >0.001** >0.001** 0.110
Normative commitment 0.105 0.051 0.119 0.164 0.130 0.293 1.000 0.08* 0.40 0.04* 0.006 0.13 >0.001**
Continuance commitment 0.054 0.80 0.12 0.075 0.221 0.199 0.341 1.000 0.37 0.18 0.074 0.21 >0.001** 0.001** >0.001**
Under each correlation coefficient, its p-value is given. *Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level.
According to the results of this study, rule climate is the second climate determined by nurses. This finding is in accordance with Tsai and Huang’s2study. Rule climate describes rule of legal guidelines on behaviors of health professionals. In ethics, adherence to rules and regulations of the hospital is highly important, and lack of these could affect personnel’s understanding of method of care and treatment and cause disharmony in care for the patients.24It has been observed in some studies that rule of law and regulations have increased nurses’ job satisfaction and have induced the feeling that the organization pays attention to them.23Lawfulness does not imply that the organization is rigidly inflexible, but means loyalty to principles. Successful and ambitious organizations are adamantly loyal to their values and rarely change them, but equally seek improvement and progress. Responsibility is rooted in law and adherence to ethical principles. It is worth noting that reliance on law alone does not increase employees’ accountability much, it is those principles and beliefs institutionalized in a person that can increase his or her sense of responsibility. On the contrary, lawfulness cannot be equated to ethics. Therefore, legal commitment and doing the work only because of legal requirements are the basic and the least degree of professional ethics. What is more valuable to us than just attention to professional rules and regulations is human values and those interper-sonal relationships that are the basis for benevolence. All these values are manifested in the climate of inter-est. In this study, the third climate reported by nurses is caring climate that causes identification of personnel with the organization and all associated subjects. It is in appropriate interpersonal relationships that one would expect better teamwork in care for patients. Adherence to rules alone cannot guarantee strong inter-personal relationships. It was thought that after attention to professional problems (professional climate), nurses pay more attention to interpersonal relationships (caring climate). Although in some studies, such as those of Cullen et al.12and Koh and Boo,25caring climate has been reported as the first of ethical climates and in Tsai and Huang’s2study it ranked last, in our study, caring climate ranked higher than independence and instrumental climates.
Another climate according to the perspective of nurses is independence climate. In this climate, people behave according to their own beliefs and interests, but try not to be in conflict with the rules and regulations of the organization. In other words, their interests are a collection of moral principles. Even though in the independence climate adherence to the rules is somewhat observed, following personal interests can cause dysfunction of the rules and regulations, and as this climate ranked fourth from nurses’ perspective, it shows that personal interests are not the guidance nurses would use for their work in hospitals. Therefore, it can be expected that activities would be in accordance with professional objectives and adherence to the rules. This result is mentioned in various studies in different forms so that the independence climate ranks third in Tsai and Huang’s2study, and in Filipova’s9study, it ranks last.
The last climate governing the hospitals in the study is the instrumental climate, according to nurses. Considering that in instrumental climate people only think of their own advantage and prefer personal interests over organizational interests, the finding that such climate is least prioritized is encouraging. This finding concurs with Filipova’s9results, but disagrees with the results of Tsai and Huang2in which instru-mental climate was fourth.
This study reports a medium level of organizational commitment by nurses. As organizational commit-ment of nurses is an important factor in quality of care of patients,9it appears that a medium level of organizational commitment of nurses, due to sensitivity of the job they do, would not be adequate or satisfactory.
In this study, organizational commitment of nurses is of the affective commitment kind followed by normative and continuance commitments. This finding is in agreement with a study by Jahangir and Shokrpour10in Iran and a study by Vacharakiat26in the United States, which report the highest level of commitment of nurses to be affective.
between climates of ‘‘professionalism,’’ ‘‘rule,’’ ‘‘caring,’’ and ‘‘independence’’ and organizational com-mitment, while instrumental climate has no correlation with affective commitment. Affective commitment indicates the employee’s emotional dependence, determines identity and his or her level of involvement with the organization, and has a positive correlation with moral and occupational values of the employees27and their higher needs.28Therefore, as moral values find manifestation in the four ethical climates mentioned ear-lier, they lead to nurses’ increased organizational commitment. In explaining the correlation between ‘‘pro-fessionalism’’ and ‘‘rule’’ commitments and affective commitment, it could be reasoned that the correlation between ethical climate based on rules and organizational commitment of people can only be observed in specific occasions, so that whenever employees of an organization are committed to principles of professionalism and regulations of hospital and feel that the organization’s conduct is also wholly in accor-dance with rules and regulations, their commitment to their organization increases.14Therefore, with impor-tance of hospital rules and professionalism in hospital, organizational commitment of employees increases. Thus, given that predominant climate of the hospitals in the study is of the professionalism and rule kind, the correlation between professionalism and rule climates and affective commitment seems logical. When there is a climate of interest in hospital, nurses are benevolent and consideration for one another becomes a priority. It is imperative that whenever there is such a climate in hospital, employees identify themselves with their hos-pital and feel emotionally committed to their colleagues, leading to desire to stay with their organization and be committed to it. Additionally, climate of caring encourages better understanding of organizational supports by employees. Consequently, they regard their organization as if it considers them its top priority.9This most probably causes a positive work experience for the employee, and to make up for it, he or she becomes more committed to the organization. This positive correlation between affective commitment and the understood organizational support by the employees has been proved in past studies.29
In independence climate, employees behave according to their own beliefs and moral values, which are based on a series of fair principles. Whenever employees feel that in their organization moral values are taken into account at the time of decision making, their tendency to remain with the organization increases. This occurs more when staff feel their personal moral values are compatible with those of the organization.21,30 Various studies show that the ethical ideology (personal ethics) could be used as an alternative to external financial incentives (rewards), and this helps increase organizational commitment.19 Accordingly, it is imperative that in an independence climate, organizational commitment of personnel increases due to the fact that they make their own decisions based on personal beliefs and moral values. In addition, data analysis indi-cates that instrumental climate has no correlation with affective commitment. Whenever employees focus on maximizing self-interest, affective commitment decreases. In a climate of instrumentalism, tendency toward candid and righteous behaviors is less seen, which causes employees to identify less with the organization.12 The results of this study indicate that there is a significant and positive correlation between caring and professionalism climates and normative commitment. The construct of normative commitment is in fact indicative of a kind of ethical commitment that a person feels about organization’s investment in him. This feeling is created in him when organization has spent time and/or money so that he can perform his duties better. He would feel indebted, and thus stays with the organization. In the Iranian culture, people feel indebted to others for their goodness and graces and endeavor to recompense them. The results of this study also indicate that this culture is inbred in Iranian nurses.
Limitations of the study
In this study, we did not have access to the demographic variables; in addition, we used self-reported data, which is one of the limitations of surveys. In order to minimize the impact of this error, subjects were approached by expert interviewers in a very friendly environment.
Conclusion
In general, results of this study showed that there is a positive and significant correlation between hospital climates and organizational commitment of nurses. Climate of professionalism was the predominant climate in hospitals, and climate of instrumentalism had the least priority.
Organizational commitment of participating nurses was at a medium level. There was a positive correla-tion between different types of ethical climate and some aspects of organizacorrela-tional commitment, and in some cases, there was no correlation. There was a positive correlation between professional, rule, caring, and independence climates and affective commitment. Results indicate the more enhanced and favorable ethical climate (caring, independence, professionalism, and rule) is, the more improved the organizational commit-ment (affective, normative).
Results of this study are a guideline for researchers and managers alike who endeavor to improve organizational commitment. Nursing managers ought to pay attention to factors that enhance ethical climate. Thus, it is recommended that future research examine factors affecting ethical climate.
Acknowledgments
The authors express their gratitude to all those nurses who sincerely helped this research by completing questionnaires.
Funding
The authors extend their thanks to the Research Deputy of Kerman University of Medical Sciences for the financial support provided for this study.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
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