Organizational efficiency and co-worker incivility: a cross-national study of nurses in the USA and Italy

Aim: To examine the relationship of co-worker incivility with organisational efficiency, workload and intention to leave in nursing samples from two different countries, the USA and Italy. Background: Organisational efficiency has received little attention as a possible correlate of co-worker incivility in the nursing management literature. Studies on co-worker incivility have primarily been carried out in North America and no cross-national studies are available. Method: Data were collected by a self-report questionnaire involving nurses from the USA (n = 341) and Italy (n = 313). Findings: Organisational efficiency was negatively associated with workload, co-worker incivility and intention to leave in both samples. The path from co-worker incivility to intention to leave was also positive and significant in both samples. Workload was positively associated with co-worker incivility and intention to leave in the US sample, but not in the Italian sample. Conclusion: The present study suggests that organisational efficiency is central to understanding both co-worker incivility and intention to leave among nurses. Implications for Nursing Management: Nurse administrators should adopt interventions aimed at fostering organisational efficiency in an effort to reduce nurse co-worker incivility.