Conflicts and relationship tension with colleagues vs. violence from patients and their family members: Unique predictive impact and interactive relationship on emotional exhaustion and turnover intention

Background: Research on adverse social behavior among healthcare employees has rarely contrasted the predictive power of conflict with colleagues and workplace violence from patients and their family on individual and organizational outcomes. Purpose: To explore the potential unique impact of conflict and workplace violence and their interactive effect on emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions, controlling for job demand and control, sociodemographic, and occupational variables. Methods: Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used on a sample of N = 802 employees from Italy, mostly nurses. Discussion: Both conflict and workplace violence were significant predictors of emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions. Conflict had a stronger association with emotional exhaustion; for turnover intention, workplace violence was more strongly related to turnover intentions when conflict and tension were high. Conclusion: These findings underscore the importance of addressing not only external aggression but also internal relational dynamics in healthcare environments to protect employee well-being and reduce the risk of turnover.