The impact of social capital on the affective commitment of hospital-based nurses

The global shortage of nurses is presenting challenges to health care managers. This paper aims to determine whether social capital in the form of trust, relatedness and social support can improve organizational outcomes such as retention of nurses in hospital settings through an increase in their affective commitment to both their co-workers and to the hospital. Statistical analysis of data from 145 nurses in public and private hospitals in regional Australia revealed that social capital was signifi cantly related to levels of affective commitment between co-workers, and to the organization. Given the already acknowledged link between affective commitment and turnover, these fi ndings have implications for retention of skilled and experienced nursing staff in the hospital setting