Paradoxical Leadership and its Effect on Burnout among Staff Nurses

Background : paradoxical leadership is a leader behavior, which refers to seemingly competing yet interrelated behaviors to simultaneously and over time meet structural and follower demands that are competing yet interrelated and could affect staff nurses' behaviors. Aim: Assessing staff nurses' perception level regarding paradoxical leadership behavior, assessing level of staff nurses' burnout and finding out the effect of perceived paradoxical leadership behavior on burnout among staff nurses. Research design: A descriptive correlational study design was used. Setting: The study was conducted at Nasser Institute Hospital. Subjects: The study included all staff nurses (500 nurses). Tools of data collection: Data were collected by using paradoxical leadership scale and Maslach burnout inventory. Results: More than half (53%) of the studied staff nurses had low perception levels of paradoxical leadership, and only (16.2%) of them had high-level of paradoxical leadership. Moreover, more than three quarters (77.7%) of the studied staff nurses had low burnout level, and only (3.1%) of them had high-level of burnout. Conclusion: There was a highly significant statistically negative correlation between total paradoxical leadership perception and total burnout among staff nurses. Recommendations: Nursing staff that experience paradoxical leadership must be counselled to adept their behavior to deal with this type of leadership, and create a productive and happy work atmosphere to decrease burnout.