The association between high-performance work systems and career calling among intensive care unit nurses: the roles of job crafting and thriving at work

Background Career calling is an important psychological resource that helps sustain nurses’ commitment to their profession, particularly in intensive care unit (ICU) settings where workforce turnover remains a persistent challenge. High-performance work systems (HPWS) have been proposed as a modifiable organizational practice that may be associated with career calling, yet the behavioral and psychological mechanisms linking HPWS to career calling remain unclear. This study examined the association between perceived HPWS and career calling among Chinese ICU nurses, and the roles of job crafting and thriving at work in this association. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted between September and November 2025 among 543 ICU nurses recruited via convenience sampling from five tertiary public general hospitals in Shandong Province, China. Perceived HPWS, career calling, thriving at work, and job crafting were measured using validated scales. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations, and indirect associations were examined using the PROCESS macro (Model 6) with 5,000 bootstrap resamples. Results Perceived HPWS had a significant total effect on career calling (β = 0.543, 95% CI [0.467, 0.617]), with the direct effect remaining significant after including the mediators (β = 0.207, 95% CI [0.140, 0.290]). Job crafting accounted for the largest indirect association, representing 59.30% of the total effect (β = 0.322, 95% CI [0.267, 0.374]). The indirect association through thriving at work was not significant (β = 0.001, 95% CI [−0.004, 0.009]), whereas the sequential indirect association through job crafting and thriving at work reached significance (β = 0.012, 95% CI [0.001, 0.024]). The final model explained 70.9% of the variance in career calling. Conclusion Perceived HPWS was associated with ICU nurses’ career calling primarily through job crafting, while thriving at work played a role in this association only when preceded by job crafting. These findings suggest that organizational support is more closely tied to career calling when nurses are able to proactively reshape and derive meaning from their work. Hospital managers should complement HPWS implementation with initiatives that encourage nurses’ proactive engagement in reshaping their work, which may in turn be associated with a stronger sense of vocational meaning.