The relationship between workplace violence and helping behavior: a mediating and moderating roles of harmonious work passion and forgiveness tendency among Chinese nurses.

backgroundWorkplace violence is a significant health and safety issue particularly for nurses in medical field. Nurses who experience workplace violence always suffer physical harm, psychological distress, and confusion regarding positive behaviors. In order to cope with workplace violence, this study investigated the relationship between workplace violence and helping behavior among nurses, with a specific focus on the mediating role of harmonious work passion and preconditioning, moderating role of forgiveness tendency.

methodsThis study carried out cross-sectional research at five large hospitals in Guangzhou, China involving 332 nurses of 20 nursing team with two-wave data collection. Demographic information questionnaire, Workplace Violence Scale, Harmonious Work Passion Scale, Forgiveness Tendency Scale and Helping Behavior Scale were used to collect data via electronic survey platform. SPSS 26.0 and PROCESS 3.5 macro were used to examine the mediating and moderating effect of harmonious work passion and forgiveness tendency.

resultsThe total scores for workplace violence, harmonious work passion, forgiveness tendency, and helping behavior were 7.75 ± 3.07, 22.12 ± 6.13, 14.36 ± 3.40, 19.54 ± 5.43, respectively. Workplace violence was negatively correlated with nurses’ harmonious work passion (r = -0.59, p<0.01), forgiveness tendency (r=-0.13, p<0.05), and helping behavior (r =-0.45, p<0.01), while harmonious work passion was positively associated with helping behavior (r = 0.48, p<0.01). The analysis of the mediation model revealed a negative correlation between workplace violence and nurses’ helping behavior (β= -0.47, P < 0.01), with harmonious work passion as a mediator in the relationship (β=-0.17, 95% confidence interval of [-0.25, -0.10]). And the analysis of the direct and moderation model revealed that forgiveness tendency was negatively correlated to workplace violence (β=-0.13, p < 0.05), and positively moderated the relationship between workplace violence and nurses’ harmonious work passion (β = 0.09, p < 0.05).

conclusionsThis study confirmed that workplace violence significantly reduced nurses’ helping behaviors towards patients. Moreover, the damage to nurses’ helping behaviors by workplace violence was primarily occurred by undermining their harmonious work enthusiasm. Additionally, a high degree of forgiveness tendency among nurses can significantly inhibit the occurrence of workplace violence and mitigate its negative impact on their harmonious work enthusiasm. However, individuals’ capacity for forgiveness in dealing with workplace violence was sometimes limited. Hospitals should intervene promptly to manage conflicts when nurses suffered workplace violence and should establish relevant management regulations and security measures to ensure the personal safety of nurses. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: Not applicable.