Staff Nurses’ Perceptions of Their Nurse Managers’ Transformational Leadership Behaviors and Their Own Structural Empowerment

OBJECTIVEThe aim of this study was to investigate staff nurses’ perception of their nurse managers’ transformational leadership behaviors and their own structural empowerment. BACKGROUNDTransformational leadership behaviors in nurse managers have been linked to increased staff nurse satisfaction and decreased turnover and burnout. Perception of nurse managers’ leadership behaviors by staff nurses and the relationship to the staff nurses’ structural empowerment is important to advance our understanding of the leadership role of nurse managers. METHODSA descriptive correlational design was used to examine the relationship between staff nurses’ perception of their nurse managers’ transformational leadership behaviors and their own structural empowerment. Staff nurses at a conference were offered an opportunity to participate in the study. RESULTSThe transformational leadership behaviors of nurse managers were moderately correlated to staff nurses’ structural empowerment. Transactional leadership behaviors were associated with staff nurses’ structural empowerment to a lesser degree. CONCLUSIONNurses who perceived their nurse managers as demonstrating transformational leadership behaviors experienced higher structural empowerment.