Purpose: This study aimed to identify the mediating effect of organizational commitment on the relationship between nurses’ clinical characters and retention intention in small-and medium-sized hospitals. Methods: This descriptive study included 177 nurses frome three small-and medium-sized hospitals in B metropolitan city. Data were collected from August 27 to September 30, 2020 using self-report questionnaires and were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows version 22.0. Results: The significant predictors of retention intention were organizational commitment (β=.43, p<.001), age (β=.21, p=.001), nurses’ clinical characters (β=.16, p=.011), work satisfaction (β=.15, p=.022), and whether they worked in the desired department (β=.13, p=.025). These variables explained 48% of the variance in retention intentions. Additionally, organizational commitment had a mediating effect on the relationship between nurses’ clinical characters and retention intention. Conclusion: According to the results, institutional efforts should be made to strengthen organizational commitment and develop educational programs to enhance nurses’ clinical characters among small-and medium-sized hospitals to promote retention intention.