The purpose of this study was to investigate the casual relationship between nurses' social capital and turnover intention and to verify the goodness of fit between a hypothetical model and actual data in order to suggest the best model.

This survey was conducted with 315 nurses working in general hospitals in Seoul. Data were collected from December 1 to December 30, 2011, and analyzed using SPSS Windows 18.0 and AMOS 16.0.

Nurses' social capital was found to have a direct effect on reducting organization cynicism and increasing organizational commitment. Nurses' organizational cynicism and organizational commitment were found to have a direct effect on turnover intention, but social capital did not have a direct effect on turnover intention. However, social capital had a partial and indirect effect on turnover intention through mediating organizational cynicism and organizational commitment.

Results of this study indicate that nurse managers should put increased effort in reducing nurses' organizational cynicism and improving their organizational commitment, two contrary parameters. At the same time managers need to develop plans to establish social capital more efficiently so that nurses have lower turnover intention.