J Nurs Sch. 2024;00:1–9. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jnu © 2024 Sigma Theta Tau International.
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1INTRODUCTION
During the COVID- 19 pandemic, various organizational factors (such as inadequate staffing, excessive workload, and irregular work- ing hours) exacerbated nurse burnout, negatively affecting nurses' mental health and job satisfaction, which in turn leads to adverse behaviors at work, such as absenteeism, turnover intention, and
separation. Nursing staff turnover is a common problem worldwide and has led to a shortage of nurses, becoming an important issue in current healthcare services. The International Council of Nurses has warned that there could be a shortage of 13 million nurses by 2030. Newly graduated nurses (NGNs) were those who joined the workforce directly within 1 year after graduation (Newton &
McKenna, 2007). Research has shown that recruiting NGNs as part
The effect of work readiness on work well- being for newly graduated nurses: The mediating role of emotional labor and psychological capital
Yueming Ding PhD student
1| Haishan Tang MD
1| Yiming Zhang MD
1|
Qianwen Peng MD
1| Wanglin Dong MD
1| Guangli Lu PhD
2| Chaoran Chen PhD
11Institute of Nursing and Health, School of Nursing and Health, Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan, China
2Institute of Business Administration, School of Business, Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan, China
Correspondence
Chaoran Chen, Institute of Nursing and Health, School of Nursing and Health, Henan University, Jinming Avenue, Kaifeng 475004, Henan, China.
Email: [email protected] Funding information
Key Project of Undergraduate Teaching Reform Research and Practice of Henan University, Grant/Award Number:
HDXJJG2020- 25; Graduate Education Reform and Quality Improvement Project of Henan Province, Grant/Award Number:
YJS2021AL074; Investigation project of Henan Federation of Social Sciences:
"A Study on the Current Situation and Cultivation Mechanism of Social and Emotional Ability of Henan Adolescents", Grant/Award Number: SKL- 2022- 55
Abstract
Objective: To investigate the relationship between work readiness and work well- being for newly graduated nurses and the mediating role of emotional labor and psy- chological capital in this relationship.
Methods: A cross- sectional survey was conducted in mainland China. A total of 478 newly graduated nurses completed the Work Readiness Scale, Emotional Labour Scale, Psychological Capital Questionnaire, and Work Well- being Scale. Descriptive statistical methods, Pearson correlation analysis, and a structural equation model were used to analyze the available data.
Results: Newly graduated nurses' work readiness was significantly positively cor- related with work well- being (r = 0.21, p < 0.01), deep acting (r = 0.11, p < 0.05), and psychological capital (r = 0.18, p < 0.01). Emotional labor and psychological capital partially mediated the relationship between work readiness and work well- being.
Additionally, emotional labor and psychological capital had a chain- mediating effect on the association.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: Work readiness not only affects newly gradu- ated nurses' work well- being directly but also indirectly through emotional labor and psychological capital. These results provide theoretical support and guidance for the study and improvement of newly graduated nurses' work well- being and emphasize the importance of intervention measures to improve work readiness and psychologi- cal capital and the adoption of deep- acting emotional- labor strategies.
K E Y W O R D S
emotional labor, psychological capital, work readiness, work well- being
of the nursing profession's new workforce is an effective way to sup- plement nursing staff and expand the nursing team, which helps to meet the challenge of a lack of human resources (Gong et al., 2022;
See et al., 2023). However, there is a relatively high rate of turnover in NGNs. Globally, the attrition rate of NGNs has been reported to range from 25% to 70% (International Council of Nurses, 2022; Kim
& Shin, 2020). This means that it is vital to find ways to retain NGNs (Jarden et al., 2023).
Previous studies have shown that improving nurses' work well- being (WWB) is the key to improving nurses' work involvement and reducing job burnout and turnover intention (Li, Chang, et al., 2021).
It plays an important role in stabilizing nursing teams, improving nursing quality, and realizing the goals of hospitals and medical insti- tutions (Jarden et al., 2023). WWB is the perceived well- being that individuals have at work and is defined as their emotional feelings and satisfaction at work (Zheng et al., 2015). At present, nurses' WWB is moderate, and there is still room for improvement (Li, Fang, et al., 2021). Given the positive effects of WWB, it is necessary to further explore the influencing factors and underlying mechanisms among NGNs for improving their WWB.
Most of those previous studies focused on factors related to the organization and its work (such as leadership style [Niinihuhta
& Häggman- Laitila, 2022] and workload [Pace et al., 2021]) and indi- vidual factors (such as emotional intelligence [Li, Chang, et al., 2021], interpersonal relationships [Jarden et al., 2021], and professional dignity [Stievano et al., 2022]), which can significantly impact nurses' WWB. However, there is little existing literature on whether and how NGNs' work readiness (WR) affects their WWB, which leads to a lack of comprehensive understanding of the possible negative effects of NGNs' WR. WR refers to the degree to which graduate nurses pos- sess the characteristics and attributes that make them successful in the workplace (Wolff et al., 2010). According to the effort- recovery model and ego depletion theory (Baumeister et al., 1998; Meijman et al., 1998), individuals need to cope with work demands through ef- fort. If they cannot supplement the energy resources consumed, they will experience a series of negative effects. Specifically, nurses have limited self- regulation resources, which are constantly depleted when performing volitional activities (such as devoting much attention to work). Nurses with low WR experience work demands, such as fa- tigue or negative emotions, that cause them to experience overload.
If their resources are not replenished in time, they will be exhausted, which will have a negative impact on the nurses' WWB. Several previ- ous studies have supported the point that WR is positively associated with WWB (Li et al., 2022; Walker & Campbell, 2013). Therefore, to improve the WWB of NGNs, the specific mechanism through which WR affects WWB should be investigated.
In addition to mental and physical labor, emotional labor is re- garded as a new form of labor that refers to the process in which in- dividuals adjust their emotions, feelings, and behaviors accordingly to achieve organizational goals (Morris & Feldman, 1997). Based on previous studies, Diefendorff et al. (2005) proposed the three- level theory of emotional labor; that is, emotional labor is divided into three levels: natural acting, deep acting, and surface acting. Natural
acting refers to natural emotional disclosure when one's internal emotional experience is consistent with one's external performance, with minimal consumption of psychological resources. Deep acting means that when the internal emotional experience is inconsistent with the external expression, the individual adjusts the emotional experience to make it consistent with the external expression, which consumes certain psychological resources. Surface acting means that if the individual does not adjust his or her emotional experience, he or she will only let his or her external emotional performance meet organizational requirements. In this case, emotional experi- ence and emotional performance are inconsistent, which can easily cause emotional disorders and consume a large amount of psycho- logical resources.
According to resource conservation theory (Hobfoll, 2001), in- dividuals are motivated to acquire, protect, and invest resources.
The amount of initial resources will affect individuals' subsequent resource investment. Individuals with more initial resources will adopt more active resource investment behaviors to be more capa- ble of obtaining new resources and forming resource value- added.
Nurses with low WR have fewer initial resources, so they lack ex- perience using emotional labor appropriately according to different occasions and situations in the process of nurse–patient communica- tion. Empirical studies have shown that WR is negatively correlated with surface acting and positively correlated with deep acting (Tao et al., 2022). In addition, studies have shown that emotional labor is closely associated with well- being (Kirk et al., 2021; Park et al., 2022).
Patients are more likely to recognize or appreciate appropriate emo- tional labor (such as deep acting), and these positive evaluations can also become a new source of resources for nurses, helping to supple- ment resource depletion and thus conducive to maintaining WWB. In contrast, improper emotional labor (such as surface acting) will cause different levels of emotional disorders, decreasing employees' well- being (Brunetto et al., 2023). Thus, emotional labor may mediate the relationship between WR and WWB among NGNs.
Psychological capital (PC) is a ‘positive psychological state of individuals’ and consists of four major components: self- efficacy, hope, optimism, and resiliency (Luthans et al., 2004). Dwyer and Revell (2016) framed the ability of NGNs to address the stress of tran- sition in terms of PC. Amarathunga and Wijethunga (2021) reported a significant positive correlation between WR and PC. According to the job demands- resources theory, job demands are associated with certain physiological and/or psychological costs. Continuous work requirements, as a source of stress, will continue to consume individual psychological resources, resulting in serious negative re- sults. However, if individuals have sufficient psychological resources to supplement and cope with resource consumption, this will ef- fectively alleviate or eliminate the adverse consequences of stress (Hobfoll, 2001). Furthermore, the conservation of resources theory suggests that individuals make efforts to maintain, protect, and re- tain personal resources and energy to maintain a healthy resource balance (Hobfoll, 2001). This theory has gradually developed from a stress- response model to a theory that explains individual behaviors and outcomes in terms of an individual's resource reserves and their
dynamic changes. Currently, accumulating evidence suggests that employees' PC has positive impacts on WWB. For example, Zhao and You (2021) demonstrated that PC has a moderate correlation with WWB. Elliott and Fry (2021) found that possessing a higher level of PC was a positive factor in the generation of high WWB and strong work performance. Thus, PC may also mediate the relation- ship between WR and WWB among NGNs.
Studies have shown that different emotional labor strategies reflect different means of emotional expression management and consume psychological resources differently. For example, Hong et al. (2022) reported that the expression of naturally felt emotions and deep acting increase PC. Elliott and Fry (2021) reported that deep acting and natural acting were moderately correlated with PC. Jiang et al. (2023) also found that deep acting was moderately correlated with PC. PC, as a mental resource in a similar state, may be reduced due to excessive emotional labor. Thus, the relationship between WR and WWB may be influenced first through emotional labor and then through PC.
Based on the analysis of the literature, it is clear that the con- servation of resources theory has broader and stronger explanatory power for the phenomena of adaptation, regulation, and develop- ment of individual psychology and behavior in organizational con- texts. Thus, this study adopted the conservation of resources theory as the basis for explaining what internal factors affect NGNs' WWB.
This study aimed to determine whether emotional labor and PC are potential mediating factors in the relationship between WR and WWB among NGNs. Based on the above analysis, the following hy- potheses were made (Figure 1):
Hypothesis 1. NGNs' WR affects WWB through the mediating role of emotional labor.
Hypothesis 2. NGNs' WR affects WWB through the mediating role of PC.
Hypothesis 3. NGNs' WR affects WWB through the chain- mediating role of emotional labor and PC.
METHODS Participants
A cross- sectional survey using convenience sampling was adopted to gather data from nurses in several public hospitals in Henan Province from December 2022 to February 2023. The inclusion criteria were (a) having obtained a nursing license, (b) having worked as a clinical nurse for less than a year, and (c) voluntarily consent to participate in this study. Exclusion criteria were nurses who were interns or were unable to participate due to vacation, leave, and illness. We collected 520 questionnaires and removed 42 questionnaires with incomplete answers. Finally, 478 valid questionnaires were obtained, for a comple- tion rate of 91.9%.
Measures
Sociodemographic questionnaire
Sociodemographic information, including age, sex, educational level, hospital level, department, employment method, work hours per day, and monthly income, was obtained.
Work readiness
The work readiness scale for graduate nurses was developed by Walker et al. (2015) and adapted to Chinese by Li et al. (2020). A total of 37 items were divided into five dimensions: work competi- tiveness, social competence, career development, organizational acumen, and personal work characteristics. All items were rated on a 10- point scale from “1” (completely disagree) to “10” (com- pletely agree). A higher score indicates a better WR. The Chinese version of the scale showed good validity (CFI = 0.93, TLI = 0.92, and RMSEA = 0.07) and reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.96) (Li et al., 2020); in this study, the Cronbach's α was 0.87.
F I G U R E 1 Hypothesized relationships between work readiness, work well- being, emotional labor, and psychological capital.
Emotional labor
The emotional labor scale was developed by Grandey (2003) and adapted to Chinese by Luo et al. (2008). A total of 14 items were di- vided into three dimensions: surface acting (7 items), deep acting (3 items), and emotional expression requirements (4 items). All items were rated on a 6- point scale from “1” (strongly disagree) to “6” (strongly agree). The total score was calculated independently for each dimen- sion, with higher scores indicating a greater number of times the in- dividual experienced an emotional adjustment. The Chinese version of the scale showed good validity and reliability; Cronbach's α for the whole scale and the three dimensions were 0.81, 0.71, 0.83, and 0.87, respectively (Luo et al., 2008); in this study, Cronbach's α for the three dimensions was 0.95, 0.89, and 0.89, respectively.
Psychological capital
The Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ- 24) was developed by Luthans and Jensen (2005) and revised by Luo and He (2010). A total of 20 items were divided into four dimensions: hope, self- efficacy, resilience, and optimism. All items were rated on a 6- point scale from “1” (strongly disagree) to “6” (strongly agree). The higher the score is, the greater the participant's PC. The Chinese version of the scale showed good valid- ity (CFI = 0.92, TLI = 0.92, and RMSEA = 0.07) and reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.92) (Luo & He, 2010); in this study, Cronbach's α was 0.94.
Work well- being
The work well- being subscale of the Employee Well- being Scale was de- veloped by Zheng et al. (2015) and includes 6 items. All items were rated on a 7- point scale from “1” (strongly disagree) to “7” (strongly agree). A higher score indicates a greater level of WWB. The scale showed good va- lidity (CFI = 0.94, TLI = 0.91, and RMSEA = 0.06) and reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.87) (Zheng et al., 2015); in this study, Cronbach's α was 0.94.
Data collection
After obtaining informed consent and cooperation from the nurs- ing departments, the head nurses of each department and nurses from the various hospitals, questionnaires were distributed on the spot; the purpose, and significance of the study as well as and the matters needing the participants' attention were explained to the nurses with uniform instructions. After completing the survey, the questionnaires were recovered on the spot.
Ethical considerations
Before data collection, first, the aim and significance of the study were thoroughly described to the participants, who decided for
themselves whether to participate in the study. Then, we informed that participants' answers were solely used for this study and that they could stop responding at any time. In the end, the study was approved by the relevant ethics committee.
Statistical analysis
All data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 24.0. First, de- scriptive analyses were used to analyze the demographic character- istics and the study variables. Second, Pearson's correlation analysis was used to examine the correlations among WR, emotional labor, PC, and WWB. Finally, we employed a structural equation model to identify both direct and indirect relationships in the model. We com- puted a 95% confidence interval of bias- corrected percentile boot- strapping through 5000 bootstrap samples. The p value of less than 0.05 indicates statistical significance. The measurement model was examined for reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant valid- ity. The structural model fit was evaluated according to the following criteria: χ2/df <5.0, comparative fit index (CFI) >0.90, Tucker- Lewis index (TLI) >0.90, and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) <0.08 (Hu & Bentler, 1999).
RESULTS
Common method bias tests
The results of Harman's single- factor test showed 18 factors with eigenvalues greater than 1. The first factor explained 33.16% of the total variance, which was less than the critical criterion of 40%
(Podsakoff et al., 2003). Therefore, this study did not present severe common method bias.
Participant characteristics
Among the 478 NGNs surveyed (aged 23.08 ± 2.13 years), 73.4%
were female, 66.9% had a bachelor's degree, and 69.5% worked in tertiary hospitals. In addition, 57.1% of the nurses worked 8~10 hours per day, more than half of the nurses had employment contracts, and the average monthly income was less than RMB 4000 (Table 1).
Descriptive analysis and Pearson correlation analysis
As shown in Table 2, the WWB score of the NGNs was 29.03 ± 6.45.
The WR score was 244.89 ± 50.48, the deep- acting score was 13.83 ± 3.87, and the PC score was 89.97 ± 19.53.
Pearson correlation analysis revealed that NGNs' WR was posi- tively correlated with WWB (r = 0.21, p < 0.01), deep acting (r = 0.11, p < 0.05), and PC (r = 0.18, p < 0.01). PC was also positively correlated with deep acting (r = 0.32, p < 0.01) and WWB (r = 0.72, p < 0.01).
Mediating effect analysis
The study model showed a good fit (χ2/df = 3.450, CFI = 0.956, TLI = 0.948, and RMSEA = 0.072). An average variance extracted (AVE) greater than 0.5 and construct reliability values (CR) greater than 0.5 confirmed the convergent and discriminant validity of the variables in this study model (Table 2). The path diagram and coef- ficients are shown in Figure 2. The model showed that WR signifi- cantly and positively affected deep acting, PC, and WWB (β = 0.14, p < 0.01; β = 0.15, p < 0.01; β = 0.08, p < 0.05, respectively). Deep acting significantly and positively affected PC and WWB (β = 0.31,
p < 0.001; β = 0.14, p < 0.001, respectively). PC significantly and posi- tively affected WWB (β = 0.70, p < 0.001). There was a significant mediating effect of WR through deep acting and/or PC on NGNs' WWB (Table 3). The ratios of the mediation effect to the total effect were 8.19%, 44.83%, and 12.93%, respectively.
DISCUSSION
This study investigated the association between WR and WWB in NGNs and examined the mediating effect of emotional labor and PC on this association. The results showed that deep acting and PC partially mediated the link between WR and WWB and exerted a significant chain- mediating role between WR and WWB. These re- sults help develop a better understanding of the linking mechanisms between these variables and help nursing managers take measures to further improve the WWB of NGNs.
The WWB score of the NGNs in this study was 29.03 ± 6.45, which indicated moderate WWB and was slightly lower than the re- sults of Xiao et al. (2022); this result shows that the WWB of NGNs in Chinese hospitals needs to be improved. This discrepancy may be that the participants in this study were NGNs. NGNs have short clinical practice times, lack practical experience, lack a deep under- standing of the significance and value of the nursing profession, lack sufficient confidence and certainty in their own professional abilities, and have a low professional identity (Mao et al., 2021; Su et al., 2023). It has been suggested that professional identity has a negative impact on WWB; the lower one's sense of professional identity is, the lower one's sense of WWB (Ren et al., 2021; Skinner et al., 2021). Moreover, the difficulties NGNs face in adapting to pro- fessional roles and overcoming the transition shock will negatively impact their physical and psychological well- being, resulting in a low sense of NGNs' WWB (Casey et al., 2021). This finding suggests that to improve WWB, nursing managers should strengthen care and support NGNs, encourage them to adopt positive coping strategies and express negative emotions, and focus on training NGNs on pro- fessional role perception and responsibility.
This study showed that the WR of NGNs was positively correlated with WWB (r = 0.21, p < 0.01). The higher the WR is, the greater the NGNs' WWB is, which provides empirical support for the effort- recovery model and ego depletion theory (Baumeister et al., 1998;
TA B L E 1 Characteristics of participants (N = 478).
Variable N (%)
Sex Male 127 (26.6)
Female 351 (73.4)
Educational level Junior college or below 86 (18.0)
Bachelor's 320 (66.9)
Master's or above 72 (15.1)
Hospital level Tertiary 332 (69.5)
Secondary or below 146 (30.5)
Department Internal medicine 147 (30.8)
Surgery 95 (19.9)
Obstetrics and gynecology 34 (7.1)
Pediatrics 28 (5.9)
Emergency 36 (7.5)
Intensive care unit 24 (5.0)
Others 114 (23.8)
Employment method
Permanent staff 91 (19.0)
Personnel agency 88 (18.4)
Employment contract 299 (62.6) Work hours per
day(h) <8 145 (30.3)
8~10 273 (57.1)
>10 60 (12.6)
Monthly income (¥) <4000 308 (64.4)
4000~7000 135 (28.2)
7001~10,000 18 (3.8)
>10,000 17 (3.6)
TA B L E 2 Descriptive statistics and correlations of the study variables.
Variable Mean ± SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 CR AVE
1.WR 244.89 ± 50.48 — 0.88 0.60
2.SA 22.21 ± 7.28 −0.04 — — —
3.DA 13.83 ± 3.87 0.11* 0.09* — 0.89 0.73
4.EER 11.35 ± 2.74 0.02 0.55** 0.38** — — —
5.PC 89.97 ± 19.53 0.18** −0.18** 0.32** 0.01 — 0.94 0.81
6.WWB 29.03 ± 6.45 0.21** −0.12** 0.35** 0.02 0.72** — 0.94 0.73
Note: DA, Deep acting; EER, Emotional expression requirement; SA, surface acting.
*p < 0.05. **p < 0.01.
Meijman et al., 1998). NGNs with low WR consume more self- regulation resources in the workplace. When individual resources are difficult to recover from the work overload imposed by their duties, physical, or psychological discomfort can occur. Over time, NGNs with low WR will correspondingly decrease their WWB. In addition, in the actual work environment, NGNs with low WR are prone to negative emotions when faced with stressors such as higher work intensity, differences between expectations and reality, work pres- sure, and effective communication challenges (Forbes & Evans, 2022;
Kaihlanen et al., 2020). Taken together, these findings suggest that nursing managers should pay more attention to improving NGNs' WR, such as improving the quality of clinical teaching behaviors (Hao et al., 2023), implementing a tailored nursing practice readiness im- provement program and providing an adequate training period for NGNs (Kim et al., 2024).
Our results showed that WR indirectly influenced WWB through deep acting, confirming Hypothesis 1. WR can positively predict deep acting through emotional labor strategies, which is consistent with the findings of previous research (Tao et al., 2022) and supports resource conservation theory (Hobfoll, 2001). NGNs with higher WR have a large resource reserve; thus, they can use their own resources to make internal cognitive adjustments and tend to adopt deep act- ing to actively adjust their emotional experience. In addition, NGNs
who are good at using deep- acting emotional- labor strategies tend to integrate knowledge and action at work, and their emotional expression is consistent with professional expectations (Jiang et al., 2023); this results in resource returns such as patient satisfac- tion and organizational recognition and thus improves NGNs' pro- fessional identity, work engagement, and WWB. Therefore, nursing managers can actively carry out emotional management training on a regular basis, improve NGNs' correct understanding of emotional labor and necessary emotional management skills, and guide NGNs to adopt more deep acting emotional labor strategies.
Our results showed that WR indirectly influenced WWB through PC, confirming Hypothesis 2. WR can positively pre- dict PC, which is in line with the findings of previous research (Amarathunga & Wijethunga, 2021; Li et al., 2022). This may be because new nurses with low WR often have difficulty respond- ing to emergencies and poor psychological adjustment abilities (Li et al., 2022). In addition, NGNs with lower WR experience rela- tively higher levels of stress, and perceived stress is negatively correlated with PC (Jiang et al., 2022). Studies have found that the confluence of stressors such as labor shortages, compas- sion fatigue, and workplace violence depletes PC and ultimately reduces NGNs' WWB (Yuan et al., 2023). The greater the PC of NGNs is, the greater their ability to cope with work pressure, the F I G U R E 2 Path model showing mediating effects of deep acting and PC between the WR and WWB. CD, Career development; DA, Deep acting; H, Hope; O, Optimism; OA, Organizational acumen; PWC, Personal work traits characteristics; R, Resilience; S, Self- efficacy; SC, Social competence; WC, Work competitiveness.
TA B L E 3 Indirect effects for structural paths.
Paths β SE 95% CI Ratio to the total effect
WR→DA→WWB 0.019 0.009 0.004–0.042 8.190
WR→PC→WWB 0.104 0.036 0.033–0.176 44.828
WR→DA→PC→WWB 0.030 0.013 0.008–0.061 12.931
Abbreviation: DA, Deep acting.
lower their possibility of experiencing psychological distress (Xiao et al., 2022), and the greater their WWB. Therefore, nursing man- agers can improve the PC of NGNs by incorporating this knowl- edge into nursing vocational training programs to improve their WWB.
Furthermore, this study revealed that WR could affect the WWB of NGNs through the chain- mediating effect of deep acting and PC, confirming Hypothesis 3. This result shows that when NGNs have a higher level of WR, they tend to use deep emotional- labor strategies (Tao et al., 2022), and they have greater PC to solve problems, thus helping to improve individual self- confidence and WWB; these find- ings are consistent with those of previous studies (Li, 2022; Zhao &
You, 2021). With the application of deep acting, NGNs' behaviors and internal psychological thoughts tend to be consistent. NGNs have positive emotional experiences in nursing work and are better at recognizing favorable factors in the work environment to effec- tively reduce the work pressure caused by negative situations in daily work, realize the transformation from positive cognition to positive behavior, and work more actively (Sun et al., 2023). Moreover, the more persistent the positive emotions generated by NGNs are, the more easily the positive results brought about by work engagement can be converted into the PC of NGNs (Jiang et al., 2023). NGNs with high PC have strong psychological energy, can make positive attributions to work challenges, have confidence in tackling prob- lems encountered at work, and can more easily perceive the value and well- being of work (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017). These findings suggest that nursing managers can provide spiritual rewards such as praise and recognition for NGNs with excellent performance so that NGNs can deeply appreciate the support and encouragement of the organization; in addition, it can compensate for the psychological re- sources consumed by NGNs due to the requirements of emotional labor, and improve their WWB.
IMPLICATIONS
To help NGNs improve their WWB, there are several implications for their management. First, in the future, WR should be assessed as an employment screening tool, or the WR of NGNs should be improved in the context of induction training or other support pro- grammes. Second, nursing managers should screen NGNs with low WR through multiple approaches to stimulate NGNs' use of deep- acting emotional- labor strategies. For example, a compensation mechanism for emotional labor should be established to provide reasonable remuneration. Deep acting emotional labor strategies are incorporated into the performance evaluation system in multiple flexible ways. In addition, regular counseling should be provided for NGNs, and psychological experts or senior nurses should be invited to give lectures on emotional labor. Through situational exercises, NGNs help them pay attention to their emotions and master deep acting strategies. Third, the formation of emotional culture within the organization should be promoted, the understanding and com- petence of NGNs' emotional management should be improved,
humanistic care for organizational emotions should be provided, and the appeal of organizational emotional culture should be applied to reduce emotional conflicts. Finally, attention was given to stimu- lating the PC of NGNs with low WR. For example, spiritual leader- ship could be cultivated while promoting workplace spirituality as a foundational area in daily management (Abou Zeid et al., 2022). In addition, when developing PC, nursing managers can adopt goal de- composition methods and carry out more targeted guidance training on each psychological component in a planned way.
LIMITATIONS
Several limitations need to be noted in this study. First, we used the self- report method, which is vulnerable to social desirability effects.
Future studies can be carried out from multiple perspectives, such as peers, and teacher evaluations. Second, the cross- sectional de- sign limits causal inference. Future studies can examine the dynamic causal relationship between WR and WWB through a longitudinal design. Additionally, this study was limited to several public hospitals in China, which limits the representativeness of the results. In the future, a multicenter study can be conducted to improve the repre- sentativeness of the findings.
CONCLUSION
Our study showed that a deep- acting emotional- labor strategy and PC not only play an independent mediating role in the relationship between WR and WWB among NGNs but also play a chain- mediating role; namely, NGNs with high levels of WR are more inclined to adopt a deep- acting emotional- labor strategy, which increases their level of PC and further increases their level of WWB. Interventions should focus on improving WR, emotional labor strategies and PC, which will directly or indirectly affect WWB among NGNs.
CLINICAL RESOURCES
National League of Nursing's Healthful Work Environment Toolkit:
https:// www. nln. org/ docs/ defau lt- source/ uploa dedfi les/ profe ssion al- devel opmen t- progr ams/ healt hful- work- envir onmen t- toolk it. pdf?
sfvrs n= 87d8d a0d_ 0.
International Council of Nurses. Positive practice environments for health care professionals: http:// www. icn. ch/ images/ stori es/
docum ents/ publi catio ns/ fact_ sheets/ 17d_ FS- Posit ive_ Pract ice_
Envir onmen ts_ HC_ Profe ssion als. pdf.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Haishan Tang was the co- first author. The authors thank all newly graduated nurses who participated in the survey. This research was funded by the Graduate Education Reform and Quality Improvement Project of Henan Province (Grant number YJS2021AL074), Key
Project of Undergraduate Teaching Reform Research and Practice of Henan University (Grant Number: HDXJJG2020- 25), and Investigation Project of Henan Federation of Social Sciences: “A Study on the Current Situation and Cultivation Mechanism of Social and Emotional Ability of Henan Adolescents” (Grant Number:
SKL- 2022- 55).
CONFLIC T OF INTEREST STATEMENT
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
DATA AVAIL ABILIT Y STATEMENT
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
ORCID
Yueming Ding https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1631-3493 Chaoran Chen https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6237-2999
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How to cite this article: Ding, Y., Tang, H., Zhang, Y., Peng, Q., Dong, W., Lu, G. & Chen, C. (2024). The effect of work readiness on work well- being for newly graduated nurses:
The mediating role of emotional labor and psychological capital. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 00, 1–9. https://doi.
org/10.1111/jnu.12976
