Purpose
This study aimed to clarify and analyze the concept of a career plateau among clinical nurses.
Methods
Using Walker and Avant’s concept analysis framework, 20 articles on the career plateau of clinical nurses were selected for this study.
Results
The attributes of the clinical nurses’ structural career plateau were “unmet need for vertical movement” and “accepting of promotion restrictions”. The attributes of the clinical nurses’ content career plateau were “job repetition”, “involuntary job fixation”, “work lethargy”, “low expectations for nursing professional development,” and “indifference to care recipients”. The antecedent factors for the nurses’ career plateau were “lack of organizational support”, “lack of respect from the organization, bosses, and colleagues”, “personal problems arising or remaining unresolved”, “limited autonomy”, and “absence of role models”. As a consequence of the career plateau, job satisfaction, nursing competency, and nursing quality decreased, while burnout and turnover intention increased.
Conclusion
This study is significant in that it clarified the concept and attributes of the clinical nurses’ career plateau by reflecting the characteristics and purpose of nursing.

Citations

• Experiences With a Substitution System for Clinical Nurses' Leave of Absence: A Qualitative Study
  Ae R. Kim, Jeong H. Hong, Seieun Oh, Sangwoon Cho, Hye J. Baek
  Research in Nursing & Health.2025; 48(1): 63.     CrossRef

PURPOSE
This study was a correlational research to examine the relationship between career plateau, career planning, social support and turnover intention experienced by nurses in the clinical nursing field.
METHODS
Participants were 237 nurses working in general hospitals with 100~300 beds located in G Metropolitan City. Data were collected from September 26 to October 6, 2016, and analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 22.0 program. Descriptive statistics, independent t-test, univariate ANOVA, Scheffé test, correlation analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were conducted.
RESULTS
Participants' turnover intention was positively correlated with career plateau (r=.38, p < .001), structural career plateau (r=.31, p < .001) and content plateau (r=.35, p < .001), but negatively correlated with social support (r=−.38, p < .001), supervisor support (r=−.36, p < .001), peer support (r=−.32, p < .001), and career planning (r=−.15, p=.043). Factors associated with participants' turnover intention were supervisor support (β=−.22, p=.006), structural career plateau (β=.19, p=.012), and content career plateau (β=.14, p=.047).
CONCLUSION
Results suggest that structural career plateau, content career plateau, and supervisor support are related to nurses' turnover intention. To lower nurses' turnover intention, alternative ways must be developed to improve the structure of nursing organizations to address career plateau and establish an organizational culture that can be supported by supervisors.

Citations

• Factors influencing career plateau in nurses: a protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis
  Xincen Liu, Shuang Hu, Qian Zhang, Xiaochen Yan, Xiaoyu Du, Jiajia Liu, Ruixue Hui, Wendi Guo, Jia Chen, Wenjun Chen
  BMJ Open.2025; 15(6): e089401.     CrossRef
• Effect of Work-Family Conflict on Turnover Intention among Married Female Nurses: The Mediating Effect of Nursing Work Environment
  Min Gyeong Jeong, So Young Choi
  Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration.2024; 30(5): 451.     CrossRef
• Factors Influencing Clinical Nurses’ Perception of Structural and Content Career Plateau
  Ji Hye Kim, Ji Yun Lee
  Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing.2024; 54(4): 534.     CrossRef
• The Effect of Psychological Anxiety Caused by COVID-19 on Job Self-Esteem and Job Satisfaction of Airline Flight Attendants
  Yelin Shin, Jinyoung Olivia Choi, Sunghyup Sean Hyun
  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.2022; 19(7): 4043.     CrossRef
• Effects of Career Management and Organizational Justice on Job Rotation Attitude among Hospital Nurses
  Eunkyung Kim, Taewha Lee
  Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration.2021; 27(5): 390.     CrossRef
• Career adaptability and job outcomes: a moderated mediation model of proactivity and job content plateau in educational sector
  Harleen Kaur, Rajpreet Kaur
  Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning.2021; 11(4): 929.     CrossRef
• A qualitative study on the experiences and attributions for resigned nurses with career plateau
  Hongmei Zhu, Chunjuan Xu, Hua Jiang, Mingzi Li
  International Journal of Nursing Sciences.2021; 8(3): 325.     CrossRef
• Prevalence and associated factors of the career plateau of primary care providers in Heilongjiang, China: a cross-sectional study
  Di Liu, Xu Yang, Qinglin Li, Lei Shi, Qiaoran Tang
  BMC Family Practice.2021;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Why Do They Stay? Intention to Stay among Registered Nurses in Nursing Homes
  Ji Yeon Lee, Juh Hyun Shin
  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.2020; 17(22): 8485.     CrossRef

PURPOSE
This study was designed to construct a structural equation model and identify the effects and relationships of self-efficacy, career plateau, job embeddedness, organizational commitment and intent to turnover for nurses. Also, an attempt was made to derive a hypothetical model from these factors and to verify whether the model has validity as a means of explaining and anticipating turnover intention of nurses.
METHODS
Data were collected from six randomly selected hospitals: a university hospital located in J city, Kyungnam and five general hospitals located in two cities (cities B and C), each having 400 to 720 beds. Also, 318 nurses were surveyed. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 18.0 program.
RESULTS
Job embeddedness and organizational commitment were identified as the most likely paths to turn over intention. Also, organizational commitment had the highest direct effect on turnover intention followed by job embeddedness and then self-efficacy, but career plateau had an indirectly effected turnover intention.
CONCLUSION
As turnover intention was found to be greatly affected by organizational commitment and job embeddedness, methods to improve organizational commitment and job embeddedness should be actively developed to reduce turnover intention among nurses.

Citations

• Nurses’ job embeddedness and turnover intention: A systematic review and meta-analysis
  Xin Wang, Ming Liu, Angela Y.M. Leung, Xiaoyan Jin, Hongxia Dai, Shaomei Shang
  International Journal of Nursing Sciences.2024; 11(5): 563.     CrossRef
• The impact of nurse’s sense of calling, organizational commitment, job stress, and nursing work environment on patient safety management activities in comprehensive nursing care service units during the covid-19 pandemic
  YeJi Lee, Won Ju Hwang
  BMC Nursing.2024;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Perception of Clinical Ladder System, Professional Self-Concept, Self-Efficacy, and Organizational Commitment by the Level of Clinical ladder among Intensive Care Unit Nurses
  Ji Hyun Lee, Su Jung Choi
  Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing.2022; 15(3): 51.     CrossRef
• Psychometric Properties of the Korean Version of the Nursing Profession Self-Efficacy Scale
  Seon Mi KIM, Ju Hee KIM, Jung Min KWAK
  Journal of Nursing Research.2022; 30(2): e197.     CrossRef
• The critical role of job embeddedness: The impact of psychological empowerment and learning orientation on organizational commitment
  Dong-Yeol Yoon, Caleb Seung-Hyun Han, Soo-Kyoung Lee, Jun Cho, Moonju Sung, Soo Jeoung Han
  Frontiers in Psychology.2022;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Effects of job embeddedness and nursing working environment on turnover intention among trauma centre nurses: A cross‐sectional study
  Hye Ju Lee, Soo‐Kyoung Lee
  Journal of Nursing Management.2022; 30(7): 2915.     CrossRef
• Effects of Meaning of Work, Job Embeddedness, and Workplace Bullying on Turnover Intention of Nurses in a University Hospital
  Young Suk Sim, Gui Sook Shim, Bong Hi Sim, Joo Hyun Sung
  Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration.2021; 27(4): 227.     CrossRef
• Assessing the Presence of Post-Traumatic Stress and Turnover Intention Among Nurses Post–Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Outbreak: The Importance of Supervisor Support
  Heeja Jung, Sun Young Jung, Mi Hyang Lee, Mi Sun Kim
  Workplace Health & Safety.2020; 68(7): 337.     CrossRef
• Effects of Nurses' Positive Psychological Capital, Self-Leadership, and Relational Bonds on Organizational Commitment
  Shi Nae Kwon, Hyo Jung Park
  Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration.2020; 26(3): 241.     CrossRef
• The Impact of Organizational Commitment and Positive Psychological Capital on Job Embeddedness of Nurses in Trauma Centers
  Eun Ji Choi, Eun Nam Lee, Moon Ja Kim
  Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration.2019; 25(4): 292.     CrossRef
• Effects of Job Embeddedness, Nursing Work Environment, and Nursing Professionalism on Turnover Intention in Nurses Working at Rehabilitation Hospitals
  Kyung Mi Kim, Sook Young Kim, Hyenam Hwang, Hye Min Hwang, Hyoeun Kim, Eun Sun Lim
  The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing.2019; 22(2): 134.     CrossRef
• Impact of self‐efficacy on the self‐leadership of nursing preceptors: The mediating effect of job embeddedness
  Hyunju Kim, Kisook Kim
  Journal of Nursing Management.2019; 27(8): 1756.     CrossRef
• Influence of Resilience and Job Embeddedness on Turnover Intention in General Hospital Nurses
  Kyoung Ja Ko, Soo-Kyoung Lee
  Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration.2019; 25(4): 362.     CrossRef
• Effects of Relational Bonds and Professional Authority in the Organizational Commitment of Intensive Care Unit Nurses
  Naeyoung Lee, Young Soon Kim
  Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration.2017; 23(2): 151.     CrossRef
• Factors affecting Retention Intention of Male Nurses Working Health Care Institution in Korea
  Mi Yu, Kyung Ja Kang, Su Jeong Yu, Myungsook Park
  Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration.2017; 23(3): 280.     CrossRef
• Impact of Nursing Organizational Culture Types on Innovative Behavior and Job Embeddedness Perceived by Nurses
  Mi Yeong Mun, Seon Young Hwang
  Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration.2016; 22(4): 313.     CrossRef
• Impact of Self-leadership and Organizational Commitment on the Intention of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurses to Remain in the Profession
  Hyun Sook Park
  Journal of Korean Academy of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing.2016; 25(4): 409.     CrossRef