The impact of grit and job crafting on organizational commitment and job satisfaction among hospital nurses in Korea

High turnover rates and declining engagement among nurses remain critical challenges in healthcare institutions, particularly in the face of rising job demands and burnout. Psychological traits, such as grit, and proactive behaviors, such as job crafting, have gained attention as potential factors that enhance nurses' organizational effectiveness. This study examined whether nurses' grit influences organizational commitment and job satisfaction through the mediating role of job crafting. A cross-sectional survey design was employed, and convenience sampling was used to recruit 228 nurses from a general hospital in South Korea. Grit was assessed using the 12-item Grit Scale developed by Duckworth et al, which comprises 2 core dimensions: consistency of interest and perseverance of effort. Job crafting, defined as the proactive modification of job boundaries to align with individual strengths and values, was measured using the 15-item Korean Job Crafting Scale. Data were collected using self-reported questionnaires between June 1 and June 22, 2020, and analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 26.0, including structural equation modeling. Grit was significantly associated with job crafting (β = .669, P = .006), which positively affected organizational commitment (β = .465, P < .001) and job satisfaction (β = .176, P = .048). Grit had no direct effect on either outcome, but job crafting fully mediated its influence. Cultivating grit and encouraging job crafting behaviors may improve organizational commitment and job satisfaction among nurses, offering valuable insights for nurse workforce retention strategies. This study is the first attempt to apply organizational-level grit within Korean healthcare institutions, serving as a foundational effort in organizational management to align an institution's overarching objectives with the actual activities of teams and individuals.