Does Social Climate in the Hospital Affect Nurses' Loneliness?

Loneliness is a widespread emotion across the world and is something that many people experience at some point in their lives. Loneliness in the workplace is often caused by employees' inability to form strong bonds with their coworkers or managers. Loneliness can both reduce individual performance and negatively affect the overall workplace atmosphere. In particular, an important element of understanding employees' workplace loneliness is to consider the interaction between employees and their environment, especially the social systems in which these employees are embedded. In recent years, it has been increasingly studied by researchers and practitioners as it has serious negative effects at both individual and organizational levels. This study is based on a comprehensive framework that includes the social exchange approach, the human relations approach and the need to belong approach in order to comprehend the phenomenon of workplace loneliness and the factors affecting this phenomenon. This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted on 194 nurses selected through convenience sampling. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and data analysis was carried out using the original SPSS-26 package program. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses. The research data were collected with the “Social Climate Scale” and “Workplace Loneliness Scale”. As a result of the study, it was found that nurses' perception of social climate was above average and workplace loneliness level was below average. In addition, in the current study, it was determined that social climate has a significant negative effect on workplace loneliness. As a result of the correlation analysis, it was determined that there was a negative and significant relationship between nurses' perceptions of in-group communication and professional cooperation and their workplace loneliness levels. This study makes a unique and significant contribution to the organizational behavior literature by revealing the link between interpersonal harmony, organizational support, in-group communication, work ethics, professional cooperation and non-work relationships and workplace loneliness.