BackgroundQuality of working life (QWL) is a highly important issue for nurses. Nurses with lower QWL tend to have lower job performance and intention to stay. The aim of this study was to apply a theoretical model to examine the structural relationships among overcommitment, effort-reward imbalance (ERI), safety climate, emotional labour and QWL for hospital nurses.MethodsA cross-sectional study design and a simple random sampling method were used to recruit 295 nurses in a teaching hospital and used a structured questionnaire was used to collect data.ResultsOverall, the nurses’ QWL was moderate. Our theoretical model showed a good model fit. Overcommintment had a significant direct positive effect on ERI (β= 0.35,p< 0.001) and indirect effects on safety climate (β= -0.149,p= 0.001), emotional labour (β= 0.105,p =0.001) and QWL (β= -0.061,p =0.004). Additionally, ERI not only had significant direct effects on safety climate (β= -0.42,p< 0.001), emotional labour (β= 0.30,p< 0.001) and QWL (β= -0.17,p< 0.001) but also indirectly affected QWL through safety climate (β= -0.304,p =0.001) and emotional labour (β= -0.042,p =0.005). Both safety climate (β= 0.72,p< 0.001) and emotional labour (β= -0.14,p= 0.003) showed significant direct effects on QWL. Our final model accounted for 72% of the variance in QWL.ConclusionOur results highlight the necessity of improving the QWL of nurses. Policymakers and hospital administrators should develop policies and strategies that encourage nurses to exhibit an appropriate level of commitment, balance effort and reward, establish a climate of safety, and reduce emotional labour to improve the QWL of hospital nurses.