Turnover intention (T.I) has remained one of the most serious dilemmas towards organizational efficiency in contemporary times. Turnover intention refers to employees' conscious and deliberate intention to seek alternative job opportunities in another organization (1). It may be voluntary or involuntary (2-3). It connotes the attitudinal, decisional and behavioural tendencies and processes proceeding with the turnover (4). This portrays a cognitive and behavioural manifestation of quitting (5). Corollary turnover intention, which is a forerunner to actual turnover, always refers to a worker's tendency or desire to leave their current position and reflects the likelihood that a person will change jobs within a specific time or period (6). It captures how the individual views and assesses available employment options (7); although not definitive, job-hunting behaviour is frequently related to it. This has some detrimental effects on the organizational functioning. From an organizational standpoint, nurses' intentions to leave, which precede actual turnover, result in monetary and intangible costs. The intangible cost, which may be even more significant than the tangible cost, includes the effects of turnover on organizational culture, employee morale, and social capital (8-9). The tangible cost includes recruitment, selection, training, and time (10). Overall, turnover intention harms the organization's overall functioning and exposes it to the ongoing risk of training and recruiting, affecting high-quality healthcare delivery (11). These invariably have affected the health care service delivery in terms of uneven distribution of nurse personnel in primary and other health care needs and the quality and quantity of nurses generally, thus, resulting in uncertainty in actualizing SDGs goals (12).

In Nigeria, nurses constitute more than 50% of the workforce in the entire health sector (13) because of their array or broad range of health services. However, the rate at which nurses engage in the turnover intention process and actual turnover has become a source of worry to providers of health (14-15) and has posed a serious challenge due to a systemic workforce decline witnessed, especially among the nurses (16). According to Nnadozie et al. (13), more than 20% of the nurses' workforce in Nigeria has left the shores of the country in the last couple of years to other Western countries in search of better work environments and remunerations due the retrogressive practices and policies in human resource management (17) that leads to negative work behaviours and outcomes such as turnover intention (18). However, understanding why nurses intend to leave their job is pertinent because of their great importance to the healthcare sector (16-19), which have been implicated in turnover intention (14). Hence, the most hazardous phenomenon in the nursing profession is turnover intention and actual turnover. This is pertinent because nurses are the largest group of healthcare workers that play a significant role in the healthcare system because of their specialized skills, vital support and healthcare service delivery (20). Nurses are pivotal in meeting health and health-related Sustainable Development Goals (21). According to Bradby (22), nurses are significant pillars in any country's healthcare system because of their relative synergy with other health professionals in healthcare service delivery. Healthcare is one of the highest assets in a country, with just a few points behind banking (13.3%) (23). According to Tinehealth (24), factors like work overload, a demanding schedule, a lack of rewards or recognition for accomplishments, a lack of value or respect for contributions and job performance, a lack of opportunities for promotion, career development, or advancement, an unfavourable work environment and culture, and management insensitivity are the leading causes of nurses' intention to leave their positions. Given that the average cost of nurses' turnover intention and actual turnover ranges from $37,700 to $58,400, and hospitals might suffer annual losses of up to $5.2 million to $8.1 million; as a result, Dewanto and Wardhani (25) claimed that nurses' turnover intention impairs the holistic functioning of the hospitals. In light of this, Reynolds (26) hypothesized that nurses' intentions to leave the profession are expensive and significantly affect hospitals' profit margins and human resources. Thus, in today's increasingly complex and rapidly changing work environment, organizations have become increasingly dependent on their highly competent personnel to cope with unlimited competition and issues of quitting (27). This is pertinent since retention of talents in organizational settings is becoming more critical in a world where organizational intellectual abilities have become a key source of maintaining advantage because of employees' turnover intention, which is implicated in organizational cynicism.

Organizational cynicism is a psychological factor that interacts with corporate events, working conditions, and other factors in the work context to affect an employee's attitude toward the organization. Studies (e.g., 11) claim turnover intention results from such interactions. As a result, employees' intentions to quit their jobs are made easier by their negative attitudes and beliefs about their organization (28). According to Dean et al. (29), organizational cynicism is a disapproving attitude toward one's organization. It results from a worker's perception that the organization lacks integrity, morality, and justice in upholding the employment contract terms. Thus, emphasizing that organizational cynicism changes across situations, portraying it as an attitude learned due to unpleasant experiences. However, these detrimental effects arise from organizational cynicism based on the perceived breach of the psychological contract agreement. According to Dean et al. (29), organizational cynicism has three dimensions: cognitive, affective, and behavioural. The affective dimension comprises employees' negative feelings toward their organization, such as disdain, rage, anguish, and embarrassment or shame. Employees' unfavourable beliefs and perceptions due to a lack of justice, honesty, and fairness in the distribution of rewards are referred to as the cognitive dimension. They may believe that organizational practices betray them due to these negative beliefs and perceptions. As a result, they may act negatively toward the organization in response to this perceived betrayal. The behavioural dimension highlights the tendency toward negative behaviour in the organization. It addresses the employees' overt and covert unfavourable behavioural patterns and attitudes toward the organization, such as fierce criticism of the organization, withdrawal, denigration, and condescension. Based on this, the employees may get alienated from the organization with great intention of leaving such jobs.

These three dimensions (affective, cognitive and behavioural) were considered when conceptualizing organizational cynicism for the current study to clarify turnover intention among nurses. This is evident since nurses observing a breach of psychological contract may trigger hopelessness, anger and mistrust, which is a recipe for turnover intention. As a result, organizational cynicism is among the most apparent factors influencing the desire to leave an organization (21, 30). Thus, the intention of nurses to leave the profession is inversely correlated with the level of cynicism in the healthcare industry. This is important because institutional cynicism harms nurses and the healthcare system. This supports Ike et al. (21) findings that there is a high intention for nurse turnover and a high level of perceived organizational cynicism, when there is lack of organizational support.

However, the reoccurring question is, "Why do employees still stay in the organization despite experiencing organizational cynicism?" The notion of perceived organizational support comes into emphasis to respond. Eisenberger et al. (31) defined perceived organizational support as the employees' general notion or belief about the organization's commitment to their contributions and wellbeing. According to Ojewole and Ajibade (32), the existence of POS is predicated on two constructs: (i) employee outcomes and performance and (ii) employee respect and wellbeing. They contend that these two concepts impact how employees view the assistance provided by their organization. An organization's commitment to workers' input and wellbeing can lessen organizational scepticism and lower turnover intentions. Given that support can enhance employees' perceptions of the organization; thus employee perceptions of support may give the organization the required security and stability. However, decreased organizational support may trigger negative work behaviours and outcomes (33).

Extant studies (e.g. 34) asserted that if employees' perceptions of organizational support are positive, then, as reciprocal behaviour, employees may tend not to engage in turnover intention. According to Rowlan et al. (34), nurses with higher organizational support perceptions showed lower turnover intention. Therefore, nurses' decisions to either stay or leave their job lie in how they perceive their organization as supportive of their demands. Perceived organizational support touches many aspects of the work context, including morale, satisfaction, work enhancement and enrichment. This is pertinent since it significantly influences employees' perceptions, attitudes, and work behaviour, which may include organizational cynicism and turnover intention (35). This shows that perceived organizational support can act as a boundary condition by either increasing or decreasing the degree or extent to which organizational cynicism influences turnover intention.

Theoretical Framework

However, the present study was anchored on the theory of reasoned action and behaviour (36), which explains individuals' behavioural intentions emerging from beliefs, attitudes and subjective norms. The theory posits that behaviour is a function of behavioural intentions to determine a specific behaviour, which results from a positive or negative attitude that influences the behaviour to either having the intention to continue working with the organization or the intention of leaving based on an employee positive or negative perceptual patterns, thoughts and behaviour. Thus, drawing from this theory, it explains that organizational cynicism among nurses in the hospital suggests that nurses’ behavioural outcome is a result of their negative attitude, belief, and perception towards the employing organization as regards the hospital policies and actions that breach the psychological contract agreement. Thus, if the nurses perceive and believe that the management breaches the hospital policies and employment agreement, it creates room for employees' negative behaviour towards the organization. This invariably can result in negative work behaviours and outcomes such as turnover intention. Thus, the intention to leave one's job may be associated with negative work factors and workplace attitudes derived from push factors like organizational cynicism and pull factors like perceived organizational support.

The present study

Although studies (e.g., 33, 37) have explored the precipitating factors of turnover intention (e.g., organizational cynicism) and boundary conditions (e.g., organizational support) that can weaken or strengthen turnover intention among employees. These researches have been examined in specific organizational settings, such as police, hospitality sector and social service providers (38, 39). However, the researchers noted little research on organizational cynicism in other organizational settings, particularly in the healthcare industry, as well as turnover intention and the moderating impact of organizational support on these aspects of organizational cynicism dimensions. Previous studies (40) have studied organizational cynicism as a single construct without considering its dimensional and composite effect on turnover intention and organizational support. Thus, this is the knowledge gap the present study tends to bridge because of organizational cynicism dimensions pervasiveness in organizational-related issues like turnover intention and organizational support. As a result, the goal of the current study is to examine how perceived organizational support moderates the relationship between organizational cynicism dimensions and turnover intention among nurses by examining (i) the influence of organizational cynicism dimensions on turnover intention, (ii) the influence of organizational support on turnover intention, and (iii) the moderating effect of organizational support on the relationship between organizational cynicism dimensions and turnover intention. Based on the objectives of the study, the following hypotheses were posited: (i) Organizational cynicism (cognitive, affective and behavioural dimensions) will positively predict nurses' turnover intention, (ii) Organizational support will negatively predict turnover intention among nurses, and (iii) Perceived organizational support will moderate the relationship between organizational cynicism dimensions and turnover intention among nurses, such that the positive relationship between organizational cynicism dimensions and turnover intention will be weaker for nurses with high organizational support.

Figure 1:  Conceptual model of the study variables.

Design of Study

The current study adopted a cross-sectional survey research design conducted between January 20th to April 27th, 2023, across the six geopolitical regions of Nigeria. The participants were recruited through the snowball sampling method. This sampling technique was used to produce a more accurate account of its target population effect and sub-population differences through suggesting and referral to prospective participants (41).

Participants

The participants for the study comprised 515 (102, 19.8%) males and (413, 80.2% females) nurses aged between 29 to 60 years (M = 34.3: SD = 9.4) participated in the study. The participants for the present study comprised registered nurses in federal-owned government hospitals in the six geographical regions of Nigeria. Their participation is the sequel to their consent to participate in the study. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were used. The inclusion criterion is that the participants must be registered nurses between the ages of  ≥ 29 and 60 years and have worked up to ≥ 5 years above. The exclusion criterion includes; student nurses who are yet to be qualified as registered nurses and community health extension workers, registered nurses < 29 years and those who have not worked for up to five years.

Sample Size

The sample size was calculated using Raosoft online sampling calculator, set at 50% with 95% CI and a 5% error margin. Thus, the estimated sample size was 515 out of 2125 enlisted registered nurses in the hospitals surveyed. Hence, the sample size is above the threshold, which is 326.

Instrument

Criterion variable – Turnover intention: The Turnover Intention Scale, developed by Bluedorn (42), was used to measure turnover intention. Five items make up the test, and the responses range from (1) "strongly agree" to (5) "strongly disagree" on a 5-point Likert scale. Examples of items are;" I often think about quitting". The reliability coefficient Bluedorn (42) obtained was .90. The scale has been used in a similar study (21). The researchers reported a Cronbach alpha coefficient of .92 in the present study.

Independent variables

Organizational Cynicism - Organizational Cynicism Scale (OCS): To measure the organizational cynicism of nurses, Dean et al. (29) organizational Cynicism Scale was employed. Based on cognitive, emotional, and behavioural factors, the 13-item measure evaluated how negatively employees feel about their organization. Sample items include; "I believe my company says one thing and does another" as an example. Items 1-5 measure the cognitive aspect (For example; "I believe that my company says one thing and does another"), and items 6-9 measure the affective/emotional aspect (For example; "How often do you experience irritation when you think about your company"), while item 10-13 measure the behavioural aspect (For example; "I often talk to others about the way things are run at my company"). The measure was designed using the Likert Format, and the score ranges from (1) "strongly disagree" to (5) "strongly agree" on a 5-point Likert scale. Every item has a straight score, meaning that the higher the score, the more organizational cynicism experienced; conversely, the lower the score, the lower the organizational cynicism experienced. According to Dean et al. (29), the subscale internal consistency reliabilities ranged from .77 (cognitive), .80 (emotional), and .85 (behavioural), with an overall reliability coefficient of .82. In the present study, the researcher obtained α of .74 (cognitive), .83 (emotional) and .88 (behavioural) and the overall score of .91.

Perceived Organizational Support - The Survey of Perceived Organizational Support (SPOS). The 8-item Survey of Perceived Organizational Support (31) measured nurses' perceptions of organizational support. Items were responded to on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from (1) "strongly disagree” to (7) “strongly agree”. Sample items include; “The organization strongly considers my goals and values”. Eisenberger (31) reported a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of .93, with item-total correlations ranging from 0.70 to 0.84. The researchers in the present study reported α coefficient of .86.

Control Variables

Previous studies (e.g., 21) have evidenced the impact of these variables on result outcomes. Thus, it was included in the present study to act as control variables. These variables include; gender, age, religion, marital status, highest level of education, and number of years in the workforce. Nigeria is divided into six regions: South-east, South-south, North-east, North-west, North-central and South-west.

Data collection Procedure

The study utilized a questionnaire, which was hosted on a Google form. The questionnaire was hosted on a Google form following approval from the Ethical Committee (Blinded for review). After the approval, the survey link was distributed online via email, Twitter, and WhatsApp. This was achieved through sharing the offered link widely on various platforms of the nursing professions in Nigeria. These approaches of questionnaire distribution were utilized because they aided easy access to the researchers' potential participants. By clicking the link, the participants could be enrolled by being redirected to the questionnaire. Participants’ consent was consented to prior to participation. The survey cover letter included information about the study’s purpose, including assurance of confidentiality of their responses and a statement that the participation was voluntary and participants could withdraw at any time without penalty. Nurses who agreed to participate were asked to complete the questionnaires.  

Ethical consideration

All procedures were carried out under the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as amended in 2000.

Statistical Analysis

Pearson correlation was conducted among the demographic and study variables to determine their covariate relationship, while model 1 of Hayes and Preacher's [45] PROCESS macro version 23 was employed to examine the relationship between the independent and outcome variables. This is used because it can be easily used to estimate considerably complex models, such as direct and indirect effects in the moderation model (46).

Table 1: Characteristics of the study sample.

Table 1 depicts the demographic characteristics of the participants. The participants' demographics are as follows: 325 (63.1%) were married, and 190 (36.9%) were single. For religion, 263 (51.1%) were Christians, 197 (38.2%) were Muslims, and 55 (10.7%) were other religious worshipers. For the participants' educational qualifications, the majority of the participants, 497(96.5%), were registered nurses or had a first degree, while 18(3.5%) had above first-degree certificates. For the years spent working, 423(82.1%) participants had spent between 5 to 20 years in service, and 92 (17.9%) of the participants had spent 21 years and above in service.

Table 2: Descriptive and correlation statistics of the demographic and predictor variables.

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the ≤ 0.05 level (2-tailed). Note: N = 215, * = p <.05 (two-tailed), ** = p < .01 (two-tailed). Gender was coded 0 = male, 1 = female. Marital status 0=married, single=1. M=Mean, SD= Standard Deviation.

Table 2 depicts the correlation matrix among the study variables.  The result in Table 2 showed that it was only age (r = -.11, p <.05) and gender (r = .14, p <.01) that correlated with turnover intention. Religion correlated negatively with marital status (r=-12, P<.05). In addition, three dimensions of organizational cynicism were added: cognitive, affective and behavioural cynicism. It was indicated that cognitive cynicism correlated with turnover intention (r = -.26, p <.01), whereas affective and behavioural cynicism did not correlate with turnover intention. Organizational support also correlated with turnover intention (r = .79, p <.01.

Table 3: Hayes PROCESS Macro result for the moderating role of organizational support on the relationship between cognitive cynicism and turnover intention.

Note: * = p < .05 (two-tailed), ** = p < .01 (two-tailed).   β = Regression Coefficient; SE = Standard Error; t = population t value; p= Probability Level; LLCI and ULCI = Lower and Upper Limit Confident Interval; ?R2Adjusted R square. OS= Organizational support.

Table 3 shows the Hayes PROCESS Macro result for the moderating role of organizational support on the relationship between Cognitive Cynicism and Turnover Intention. In Table 3, cognitive cynicism positively predicted turnover intention (β = .43, 95% CI [.33, .53], p = <.01), indicating that a rise in cognitive cynicism also increases the turnover intention rate by .43 units. Organizational support also negatively predicted turnover intention (β = -.22, 95% CI [-.27, -.18], p = <.01), which invariably shows that an increase in organizational support reduces the rate of turnover intention by .22 units. The interaction between cognitive cynicism and organizational support does not impact turnover intention, and it indicates that organizational support did not moderate the relationship between cognitive cynicism and turnover intention. The R2 for the model was .90 (F=799.27; p<.01), signifying that cognitive cynicism and organizational support accounted for a 90% alteration in turnover intention.

Table 4: Hayes PROCESS Macro result for the moderating role of organizational support on the relationship between Affective cynicism and turnover intention.

Table 4 shows the Hayes PROCESS Macro result for the moderating role of organizational support on the relationship between Affective Cynicism and Turnover Intention. Table 4 results revealed that affective cynicism significantly predicted turnover intention (β = .67, 95% CI [.56, .77], p = <.01), indicating that for every unit rise in affective cynicism, turnover intention increases by .67unit. There was a substantial relationship between affective cynicism and turnover intention (β = -.01, 95% CI [-.02, -.01], p = <.01), establishing that the association between affective cynicism and turnover intention was influenced by organizational support. Regarding the interaction's slope (see Figure 1), it indicates that affective cynicism predicted turnover intention for people with low organizational support (β = -12.05, p = <.01), moderate organizational support (β = -7.05, p = <.01), and high organizational support (β = 14.95, p = <.01). The R2 for the model was .92 (F=985.31, p<.01), indicating that affective cynicism and organizational support was implicated for .92% variance in turnover intention.

Figure 2: Interaction Slope Showing the moderating role of organizational support on the relationship between Affective cynicism and turnover intention.

Table 5: Hayes PROCESS Macro result for the moderating role of organizational support on the relationship between behavioural cynicism and turnover intention.

Table 5 shows the Hayes PROCESS Macro result for the moderating role of organizational support on the relationship between Behavioural Cynicism and Turnover Intention. The results in Table 5 demonstrated that behavioural cynicism significantly predicted turnover intention (β = .56, 95% CI [.45, .66], p = <.01), indicating that for every unit rise in behavioural cynicism, turnover intention increases by .56 unit. There was a positive relationship between behavioural cynicism and turnover intention, which establishes that the association between behavioural cynicism and turnover intention was influenced by organizational support (β = .01, 95% CI [.00, .02], p = <.01). For the slope of the interaction (see Figure 2), it indicates that behavioural cynicism predicted turnover intention for people with low organizational support (β = -12.05, p = <.01), moderate organizational support (β = -7.05, p = <.01), and high organizational support (β = 14.95, p = <.01). The R2 for the model was .91 (F=897.23, p<.01), indicating that behavioural cynicism and organizational support was implicated for .91% variance in turnover intention.

Figure 3: Interaction Slope Showing the moderating role of organizational support on the relationship between behavioural cynicism and turnover intention.

The main objective of this study was to determine whether organizational support will act as a moderator between organizational cynicism dimensions and turnover intention among nurses. The findings demonstrated that organizational cynicism's cognitive dimension significantly predicted nurses' intentions to leave their jobs. This finding is consistent with a few previous studies (28, 47–50), which found that cognitive organizational cynicism was a factor that increased turnover intention. This indicated that nurses with negative beliefs and perceptions about their organization would likely experience turnover intention. This is pertinent because the cognitive dimension of organizational cynicism connotes employees' negative thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions about their organization. It involves scepticism, distrust, and a general belief that the organization's motives, actions, or decisions are questionable or unfair, leading to the perception of their work environment as hostile and unfair, leading to increased job dissatisfaction, lack of trust and commitment and breach of the psychological contract likely to make employees consider leaving the organization.

Similarly, the findings indicated that organizational cynicism's affective component strongly predicted nurses' intentions to leave their jobs. This finding is consistent with previous studies (51 -53), which found that affective organizational cynicism significantly predicted nurses' turnover intention. This is evident since the emotional dimension of organizational cynicism portrays the negative feelings, emotions, and affective responses that employees experience towards their organization. Such emotions include anger, frustration, resentment, and disillusionment towards their employing organization. These negative emotions can reinforce negative thoughts and beliefs about the organization and drive employees to behave consistently with their cynical attitudes (54). Thus, this shows that nurses with strong negative emotional reactions towards their organization are likely to experience turnover intention based on the accumulation of the negative belief, perceptions and attitudes they have been experiencing. This invariably portrays that the negative emotion and perception nurses have towards their organization increases their intention to leave the organization.

The results also revealed that organizational cynicism's behavioural component significantly predicted nurses' intentions to leave their jobs. This result is consistent with earlier research (55-56), which found that behavioural organizational cynicism positively correlates with turnover intention. Further, the behavioural dimension of organizational cynicism signifies the actions, behaviours, and responses employees demonstrate due to their negative perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, and emotions towards the organization (57). These negative behaviours involve reduced effort, disengagement, decreased organizational citizenship behaviour, and a higher likelihood of leaving the organization. As a result, nurses' overt and covert unfavourable behavioural inclinations and attitudes towards their organization are likely to enhance nurses' propensity to quit their jobs due to the negative beliefs and impressions acquired over time, together with the emotional torment. Demir and Ulutas (55) asserted that this could directly influence employees' turnover intention by creating a desire or intention to leave the organization since cynical employees may actively seek alternative employment opportunities, network with professionals outside the organization, or express their intention to leave to colleagues.

Invariably, cynicism's cognitive and emotional dimensions can also interact with the behavioural dimension to influence turnover intention. Hence, employees' negative thoughts and emotions towards the organization can shape their behavioural responses, reinforcing their intentions to leave the organization (58). Thus, referencing from the theory of reason action and behaviour (36), employees' negative perceptions, belief, attitude, and behaviour towards the organization reflects negative perceptual patterns and thoughts experienced by employees across the board concerning the organization. These negative perceptual patterns and thoughts invariably predispose them to experience turnover intention.

Perceived organizational support negatively predicted turnover intention among nurses. This is consistent with other research that found a link between turnover intention and perceived organizational support (34, 60-62). More specifically, organizational support contends that responsive organizational performance would lead to reciprocal work exchange performance. However, non-responsive organizational performance would result in a negative view of organizational support (63). As a result, organizational support poses a risk for the intention to leave. This is important because, according to Kurtessis et al. (33), employees who believe their employer does not value their efforts are more likely to look for better opportunities elsewhere. This finding suggests that nurses who perceive their organization to care about them and value their contributive services and wellbeing are less likely to experience turnover intention.

Additionally, perceived organizational support moderated the relationship between organizational cynicism (affective and behavioural) and turnover intention; as a result, the relationship between organizational cynicism (affective and behavioural) and turnover intention was weaker for employees with high organizational support. This suggests that the perception of high perceived organizational support weakens and decreases negative emotional reactions and the exhibition of employees' negative behaviour (affective and behavioural) on employees' intention to quit their jobs. The results of this study are consistent with those of earlier studies (35, 64 – 68), which found that employees' intentions to leave their organization could be influenced by perceived organizational support. This is evident since organizational support (POS) entails four elements: Job conditions, fair treatment, supervisor assistance and organizational rewards (69). However, any incongruity between these elements and employees' expectations invariably precipitates organizational cynicism and turnover intention. According to Suarez-Abanchez et al. (70), perceived organizational support can either buffer or attenuate work behavioural outcomes such as organizational cynicism and turnover intention depending on the direction of the POS. However, employees who perceive favourable organizational treatment are bound to respond with positive organizational work outcomes and behaviour; contrariwise, employees who experience an unfavourable perception of organizational treatment tend to exhibit negative behaviours towards the organization due to the perception of breach and violation of the contractual agreement (71). Invariably, this explicitly explains this trajectory relationship that exists when an organization pays attention to employees' welfare and values their contributions; such employees reciprocate by better job performance, commitment, and less negative behaviours towards the organization with the least intention of leaving, as evidenced in the tenets of social exchange theory (72).

Furthermore, organizational support did not moderate the cognitive dimension of organizational cynicism. This could be attributed to variations in individual differences and contextual factors. This is important because the general corporate environment and culture significantly impact how organizational support is perceived and received. The moderating impact of perceived organizational support may be lessened if the workplace culture promotes cynicism, distrust, or a lack of support. In such circumstances, despite perceived support, the harmful effects of cognitive cynicism on turnover intention may still exist. This could depend on the extent and quality of support the organization provides. Therefore, if nurses feel that the organization's assistance needs to be improved, it may not be able to successfully mitigate the detrimental effects of cognitive cynicism on the intention to leave. In such cases, the relationship between cynicism and turnover intention may remain strong regardless of the level of perceived organizational support experienced once the employees do not feel the extent and quality. This is pertinent because the effectiveness of organizational support relies on employees' perceptions of the support they receive from their host organization. However, when there is a mismatch between the organization's intended support and employees' perceptions of such support, employees do not perceive the support provided by the organization as supportive or genuine, based on their perception of need and quality. Thus, it may not effectively moderate the relationship between cognitive cynicism and turnover intention. Corollary individuals who are highly cognitively cynical may attribute negative events or outcomes to organizational factors, even when supportive actions are taken. This negative attribution bias can override the potential buffering effect of organizational support on turnover intention since employees with a strong cognitive cynicism bias may discount or dismiss the support provided by the organization, leading to a weakened moderating effect on the relationship.

Implications

Theoretical, empirical, and practical ramifications of this study are numerous. Theoretically, the study has adopted the theory of reasoned action and behaviour principles to explain how organizational cynicism, organizational support, and turnover intention interact. The tenets of this integrated theory suggest that behaviour is a function of behavioural intentions to determine a specific behaviour, which results from a positive or negative attitude that influences such behavioural manifestation to be either positive or negative in nature. Therefore, employees (nurses) feel a sense of reciprocity and reciprocal obligation when they perceive strong levels of support from their organization. This can lessen the influence of cynicism on the intention to leave, thereby boosting service delivery.

Empirically, the findings improved our understanding of the cynicism-turnover intention linkage by examining the moderating impact of organizational support in delivering a more nuanced knowledge of the relationship between cynicism and turnover intention. By highlighting the importance of contextual factors, such as support, in influencing employee work and behaviour outcomes, which can contribute to refining theoretical models and frameworks. This is made manifest through identifying organizational support as a boundary condition under which the relationship between cynicism and turnover intention may be weakened or strengthened. Therefore, the researcher uncovers the factor that may influence the effectiveness of support as a buffer, leading to more accurate predictions and explanations.

Practically, the study highlighted the importance of a supportive organizational climate in mitigating the negative impact of cynicism on turnover intention through fostering open communication, providing resources, recognizing employee contributions, and promoting a sense of fairness and equity. This invariably helps reduce employee turnover intention because of the sense of belonging extended to the employees by the management. Thus, this can equally help in targeted interventions by guiding the design and implementation of interventions to address cynicism-related concerns and reduce turnover intention. Such strategies include training programs, mentoring, supervisor support, and employee assistance programs, which will help to counter the harmful effects of organizational cynicism and turnover intention. Overall, the study has implications for theory development, empirical research, and practical interventions to enhance employee wellbeing and organizational effectiveness.

Limitations

Even though the current study has demonstrated great importance to organizational functioning, some limitations are worth emphasizing. First, the sample size should be increased to encompass other health personnel in order to extrapolate the findings to the general healthcare sector. Secondly, the study adopted a cross-sectional survey design, limiting causal inferences, even though inferences can be associated with the outcome and criterion variables. Future research on organizational cynicism and turnover intention should consider other work attitudes, including job embeddedness and work outcomes, like organizational career progression. Evidence shows these factors can serve as boundary conditions for workplace behaviour and outcomes.

Conclusion

The findings reveal that organizational cynicism dimensions are positively associated with turnover intention among nurses. This suggests that nurses who experience higher levels of cynicism toward their organization are more likely to contemplate leaving their current job. Additionally, the study finds that perceived organizational support plays a significant moderating role in this relationship. Specifically, higher levels of perceived organizational support weaken the positive association between organizational cynicism (affective and behavioural) and turnover intention. Thus employees (nurses) who perceive greater support from their organization, in terms of resources, encouragement, and assistance, are less likely to express an intention to leave their job, even when they harbour cynical attitudes towards the organization. These results emphasize the importance of organizational support in mitigating the adverse effects of organizational cynicism on turnover intention among nurses. Equally, organizations should prioritize creating a supportive work environment that addresses nurses' needs and concerns, fostering positive employee attitudes and reducing turnover intention.

Therefore, this present study is apt for HRM, captains of industries and providers of healthcare services to understand the interplay among organizational cynicism, organizational support, and turnover intention. This is made manifest by recognizing the influence of organizational support as a strategy for enhancing support mechanisms and cultivating a positive work environment that promotes retention and satisfaction.

Acknowledgement

We acknowledge the nurses used in this study.

Conflict of interest

None

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Ethical Committee (Blinded for review). All procedures were carried out under the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as amended in 2000.

Informed consent

All of the study's participants provided their informed consent.

Data availability statement

The corresponding author will provide the datasets generated and analyzed during the current work upon reasonable request.

Funding: N/A

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