Background: Nursing managers and leaders must fight to retain nurses in hospitals by constructing
an inviting organizational climate that is attractive to work in, not toxic. The organizational
climate is primarily affected by employees’ internal work environment and behavior. Hence,
nursing managers and leaders must implement effective strategies to increase nurses intention to
stay by address the organizational climate.
Aim: This study was designed to assess nurses’ perception of the effects of organizational climate
and toxic leadership behaviors on their intention to stay and the differences in these domains
between the two hospitals studied.
Methods: A descriptive comparative design was used. Data were collected in 2022 from 250 nurses
working in the two largest hospitals in Assiut, an Egyptian city south of Cairo, using three selfadministered
questionnaires: the organizational climate questionnaire (42 items categorized
into nine domains), the toxic leadership scale (30 items categorized into five domains), and the
Chinese version of the intent-to-stay scale.
Results: Most nurses reported their intention to stay as “normal.” The nurse participants perceived
that a positive organizational climate was not present, but toxic leadership was at a low level
(13.6% and 25.6%, respectively). The model of regression analysis was significant, showing that
the organizational climate represented by supportive systems impacted nurses’ intention to stay
in the hospitals under study. Meanwhile, toxic leadership behaviors, represented by authoritarian