The effects of work readiness, organizational justice and professional identity on the work performance of new nurses: A cross-sectional survey

Abstract Background:With the evolution of disease patterns and the continuous pursuit of persons for high-quality nursing services, new nurses are the reserve talents of the nursing team and shoulder a major mission. However, due to their low work performance and high turnover rate, this is not conducive to the stable development of nursing teams, and it is urgent to solve this problem. This study aimed to explore the relationship between work readiness and work performance as well as the mediating roles of organizational justice and professional identity in this relationship. Method: A cross-sectional design was employed. From January to February 2023, 607 new nurses were surveyed at five hospitals in Henan Province, China. Work performance, work readiness, organizational justice and professional identity were assessed by the Work Performance Scale, the Work Readiness Scale for Graduate Nurses, the Organizational Justice Scale and the Professional Identity Rating Scale for Nurses, respectively. AMOS 26.0 was used for model drawing and mediation path testing, and SPSS 25.0 was used for data analysis. This study complies with the STROBE Statement of Observational Studies. Results:Work readiness had a positive predictive effect on work performance of new nurses (r = 0.580, p ＜ 0.01); Organizational justice and professional identity play a chain mediatingrole in work readiness and work performance (β= 0.066). Conclusions: The study highlights the importance of improving the work performance of new nurses. Organizational justice and professional identity can be used as mediating factors between new nurses’ work readiness and work performance. To improve new nurses’ work readiness, enhance organizational justice and improve professional identity and improve the work performance is conducive to stabilizing the nurse team, improving medical environment, stimulating new nurses to develop innovative ideas and contributing to the long-term development of the hospital.