Relationship between Structural Empowerment, Affective Commitment, and Work Engagement among Japanese Nurses Working in Hospital

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to verify the relationship between structural empowerment, affective commitment, and work engagement among Japanese nurses, and to assess the mutual influence of Japanese nurses’ affective commitment and work engagement.

Method: Stratified random sampling was used. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted on nurses employed at hospitals in Prefecture A and ordinance-designated city B in the Tohoku region of Japan who agreed to take part in the study. Completed questionnaires were returned by postal mail.

Results: The questionnaire was distributed to 1,053 nurses at 12 hospitals; 594 questionnaires were returned (collection rate, 56.4%) and 508 contained valid responses (valid response rate, 48.2%). Structural equation modeling showed structural empowerment had a significant positive effect on affective commitment and work engagement, and structural empowerment had a significant positive effect on affective commitment via work engagement. However, structural empowerment had no significant effect on work engagement via affective commitment.

Discussion: Structural empowerment is suggested to increase the affective commitment and work engagement of nurses. Although high work engagement increases the affective commitment of nurses, high affective commitment does not necessarily increase the work engagement of nurses. The results of this study are expected to not only improve nurses’ affection for their organization, but also their work engagement.