The Chain Mediating Roles of Professional Identity and Workplace Social Capital in the Relationship Between Inclusive Leadership and Burnout of Nurses: A Longitudinal Study.

Burnout not only affects the health and work efficiency of nurses but also poses a potential threat to patient safety. The relationship and longitudinal mechanisms between inclusive leadership and nurse burnout in nursing work environments are unclear. To analyze the pathways and mechanisms by which inclusive leadership influences nurse burnout through a longitudinal study and to explore the mediating role of professional identity and workplace social capital in this association. A two-wave study was conducted among 360 Chinese nurses from Baoding No. 4 Central Hospital in March 2024 and October 2024, respectively. The self-report questionnaire consisted of inclusive leadership scale, professional identity scale, workplace social capital scale, and Maslach Burnout Inventory. Pearson's correlation analysis was employed to explore the relationships among study variables. The structural equation modeling was applied to test the proposed model. The scores for inclusive leadership, professional identity, workplace social capital, and burnout among nurses were 36.35 ± 7.04, 37.80 ± 6.96, 33.22 ± 5.31, and 30.03 ± 14.23, respectively. There is a significant correlation between the above study variables ( < 0.001). Inclusive leadership negatively influenced burnout directly and indirectly through professional identity and workplace social capital (all < 0.001). The indirect effects accounted for 65.58% of the total effect, with significant mediation through both pathways. Inclusive leadership contributed to the elimination of burnout in nurses at work. In addition, professional identity and workplace social capital had chain mediation roles between the effects of the inclusive leadership and burnout. Nursing mangers should actively adopt an inclusive leadership to improve nurses' professional identity and workplace social capital to ameliorate burnout among clinical nurses.