Moderating role of job satisfaction on turnover intention and burnout among workers in primary care institutions: a cross-sectional study

Background Global countries are suffering from a shortage of health professionals. Turnover intention is closely related to job satisfaction and burnout, making good use of these relationships could alleviate the crisis. Our research aims to examine the mediating role of job satisfaction in the relationship between burnout and turnover intention. Methods This research was conducted in Huangpi, China. The convenience sampling method and self-administereded questionnaires were used. 1370 of valid samples were collected with 97.72% effective rate. Descriptive analyses were conducted to describe social demographic factors. The structural equation model (SEM) was performed to adjust model fitting, and the mediation effect test was carried out by using the bootstrap method. Sobel-Z test was used to verify the significance of mediation effect. Results The mean age was 36.98 (SD = 9.84). The fitting indices of hypothetical model are not good. After the adjustments, chi(2)/df = 5.590, GFI = 0.932, AGFI = 0.901, CFI = 0.977, NFI = 0.973, IFI = 0.977, TLI = 0.970, RESEA = 0.058. The revised model fitted well, and the SEM was put up by using the bootstrap method. The mediating effect is partial, and Soble-Z test indicates that the mediation effect is significant. Burnout is negatively correlated with job satisfaction (p < 0.01) and the standardized path coefficient is - 0.41. Job satisfaction is also negatively correlated with turnover intention (p < 0.01) and the standardized path coefficient is - 0.18. Burnout is positively correlated with turnover intention (p < 0.01) and the standardized path coefficient is 0.83. Conclusions Job satisfaction is a mediating variable that affects the relationship between burnout and turnover intention. The mediating effect was a partial mediating effect and has a low impact of 7.4%. Improving treatment and giving more promotion opportunities for workers to improve job satisfaction, conducting career planning course and paying attention to employee psychological health to reduce job burnout. The above measures may be helpful to reduce employee turnover rate and alleviating the current situation of a shortage of health personnel in China.