Background <p>This study aims to investigate the direct associations among workplace violence, organizational climate, authentic leadership, and physicians’ job satisfaction, as well as the indirect pathways through job burnout, with the aim of offering potential preventive strategies.</p> Methods <p>Through a purposive sampling method, a total of 408 questionnaires were distributed to physicians in six tertiary-level hospitals in Anhui Province, and 399 valid questionnaires were returned. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed model.</p> Results <p>Although workplace violence did not directly influence physicians’ job satisfaction, it indirectly reduced it by exacerbating burnout. A positive organizational climate was shown to enhance job satisfaction directly and indirectly by mitigating job burnout. Authentic leadership directly enhanced job satisfaction and indirectly alleviated burnout by optimizing the organizational climate. Authentic leadership also indirectly enhanced job satisfaction by improving the organizational climate and alleviating job burnout.</p> Conclusions <p>This study confirms that workplace violence, authentic leadership and organizational climate influence physicians’ job satisfaction through both direct and burnout-mediated indirect pathways. Interventions and programs promoting a positive work environment could potentially reduce job burnout and increase job satisfaction among Chinese physicians of tertiary hospitals.</p>