How does burnout impact the three components of nursing professional commitment?

Background: While the impact of burnout on organisational commitment has been widely observed, its impact on nursing professional commitment has not previously been investigated. The literature has clarified that professional commitment has three distinct components: affective, continuance and normative. Aims: This study aims to investigate the relationships between burnout and the three components of nursing professional commitment. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using questionnaires to collect data in one large medical centre. Responses from 571 nurses were used for regression analysis. Among the sampled nurses, 90.9% had <15 years of nursing experience. MBI-HSS was used for measuring burnout. Three components of nursing professional commitment came from Meyer et al. (J Appl Psychol, 78, 1993 and 538) a formally validated instrument. Results: Analytical results indicated that burnout is negatively related to affective and normative professional commitment (B ≤ −0.09, p < 0.01), but not related to continuance professional commitment (B = 0.05, p > 0.05). Linking evidence to action: Nurse managers aiming to improve nurses’ professional commitment should consider reducing nurses’ burnout, for example improving nursing optimism and reducing administrative tasks, as suggested by the literature.