The Affordable Care Act has created within health care a growing demand for primary care services in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. The anticipated growth in need for registered nurses (RN) of 19% by 2020 is compounded by a current estimated national turnover rate greater than 17%. Human Resource Development (HRD) practitioners in health care are challenged to develop and implement interventions that can influence turnover in RNs despite identifying variables that effect turnover. This research explored how RN turnover can be positively affected by a government mandated requirement that health care create a diverse workforce and cultural competency. Using a validated instrument, the relationship between an affirming climate of diversity and turnover among RNs was assessed in light of the four mediating psychological outcome variables of organizational commitment, climate for innovation, psychological empowerment, and identity freedom. Utilizing the national RN population, data was collected using Qualtrics software and exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to analyze the data in exploring the following hypotheses: 1) An affirming climate of diversity will have VII a negative relationship on RN turnover intentions, 2) the four psychological outcomes variables of organizational identification, climate for innovation, psychological empowerment, and identity freedom will mediate the overall effects of an affirming climate of diversity on RN turnover intentions, and 3) the four psychological outcomes of organizational identification, climate for innovation, psychological empowerment, and identity freedom will mediate the overall effects of an affirming climate of diversity on RN turnover intentions across demographic subgroups
