The effect of workplace violence on emotional labor and turnover intention of emergency service employees: A model study

Abstract

Introduction: Workplace violence against health care workers in emergency services is an important worldwide problem in terms of their occupational health and safety. This study was aimed at investigating the effect of workplace violence experienced by physicians and nurses working in emergency services on their emotional labor and turnover intentions. Methods: The relational research model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the study. The study was conducted with 199 health professionals working in the emergency departments of 3 different tertiary hospitals. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews using the emotional labor scale, the workplace violence scale, and the intention to quit scale. Results: It was observed that physicians and nurses working in emergency services (hereafter referred to as “participants”) were exposed to verbal violence, physical violence, and sexual violence in the given order. There was a positive correlation between the scores obtained from the intention to quit scale and the workplace violence scale, between the emotional labor scale and the workplace violence scale, and between the emotional labor scale and the intention to quit scale. It was concluded that emotional labor did not mediate the relationship between workplace violence and intention to quit. Discussion: The study concluded that participants’ exposure to workplace violence was associated with increased levels of both emotional labor and intention to quit. A positive correlation was identified, indicating that higher levels of emotional labor were linked to a greater intention to quit. It is recommended that the public be educated on the effective and appropriate use of emergency services and that psychiatric nurses provide psychological support to emergency service personnel.