Date
9-25-2025
Department
School of Nursing
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD)
Chair
Verna LaFleur
Keywords
belonging, retention, shortage, nursing, faculty, environment
Disciplines
Nursing
Recommended Citation
Bowers, Heather M., "The Relationship Between Nursing Faculty Sense of Belonging and Faculty Intent to Stay" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 7484.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/7484
Abstract
The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative and correlational study was to evaluate the relationship between workplace sense of belonging and intent to stay in the current nursing faculty role among full-time nursing faculty. The shortage of nursing faculty impacts the ability to prepare the next generation of nurses needed to meet worldwide nursing demands. Strategies to effectively recruit and retain nursing faculty are important considering the current shortage and increasing retirements of nursing faculty. While sense of belonging has been studied for student retention and studies are beginning to explore the importance of workplace belonging, the impact of organizational sense of belonging on nursing faculty retention has not been explored. Participants were recruited from a convenience sample of nursing faculty. Variables included demographic and institutional items, intent to stay, and the Organizational Belonging scale. Analyses included descriptive statistics, MANOVAs, multiple regressions, and hierarchical multiple regressions. The study was conducted online with 191 participants completing the study instrument. This study did not find a significant difference between demographic and institutional factors and organizational sense of belonging or between the importance of organizational sense of belonging. A significant relationship was found between the factors of organizational belonging, especially Be Myself and Connection, and intent to stay. A perceived importance of belonging had a significant influence on the relationship between organizational sense of belonging and intent to stay. There is a need for development of initiatives to build environments that support a workplace sense of belonging in nursing faculty to promote retention.
