Associations among workplace incivility, stress coping, and nursing performance in hospital nurses: A path analysis

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the associations among workplace incivility, stress-coping strategy, and nursing performance and confirm how workplace incivility influences nursing performance through the stress-coping strategy. Design: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study. Data were collected using a self-reported questionnaire from 245 nurses working at seven hospitals in Korea between December 2019 and January 2020. Methods: The associations among the study variables (workplace incivility, stress coping, and nursing performance) were analyzed using path analysis with bootstrapping. Results: Supervisors' incivility affected directly and negatively nursing performance although problem-focused coping was mediating between them. By contrast, coworkers' and doctors' incivility was not directly associated with nursing performance through stress-coping strategies. Conclusion: Problem-focused coping enhanced nursing performance and was a more effective stress-coping strategy than emotion-focused coping for nurses affected by coworkers' and doctors' incivilities. Supervisors' incivility may be considered a threatening factor to nursing performance even though problem-focused coping partially mediates between supervisors' incivility and nursing performance.