The relationship between medical workers’ presence of meaning in life and turnover intention: the mediating role of searching for meaning in life and professional happiness

The high turnover rate of medical workers has become a global problem. This study aims to explore the relationship between the presence of meaning in life and turnover intention among medical workers, and to examine the mediating role of the search for meaning in life and professional happiness. The study conducted a cross-sectional survey involving 1125 Chinese medical workers. The data were collected through an online survey, including medical workers' demographic information, sense of meaning in life, professional happiness, and turnover intention. Data analysis and structural equation modeling were performed using SPSS 27.0 and smartPLS 4.0 software. The results of the study showed a good model fit. The presence of meaning in life had a direct negative predictive association with turnover intention (β = - 0.128, p < 0. 01). Importantly, the presence of meaning in life significantly positively predicted the search for meaning in life (β = 0.692, p < 0.001), a finding counter to Western Presence-to-Search Model. The presence of meaning in life also showed an indirect negative predictive association with turnover intention through the mediation of professional happiness (β = - 0.278, p < 0. 001); and it showed an indirect positive predictive association with turnover intention through the mediation of the search for meaning in life (β = 0.071, p < 0.01). This study used the structural equation model to reveal the complex relationship among the presence of meaning in life, the search for meaning in life, professional happiness and turnover intention of medical workers. Notably, contrary to Western‑based models, we found a positive association between the presence of meaning in life and the search for meaning in life, suggesting that in collectivist cultural contexts, a stronger sense of meaning may be positively linked to further search for meaning in life. These findings suggest that presence of meaning in life and professional happiness are negatively associated with turnover intention among medical workers, which may inform human resource management and the development of more humane work systems and incentive mechanisms.