Relationship between nurse manager leadership style and staff nurses’ work engagement

Background Nowadays, organizations are in a constant state of change, hence the guidance of visionary leadership is vital to the success of any organization. Supportive leadership behaviors are very important for employees’ engagement. Aim The study aimed to investigate the relationship between nurse manager leadership style and staff nurses’ work engagement (WE). Design A descriptive correlational design was used. Participants and methods The study was conducted at a teaching hospital that is affiliated to Cairo University Hospitals. A proportional randomly selected sample was used (N=271) of staff nurses. Two questionnaires were used for data collection. The first consist of two parts, first, personal characteristic data sheet; and second, multifactor leadership questionnaire (21 items), and the second questionnaire was the Utrecht work engagement scale (17 items). Results The results of the study revealed that the highest mean percent score of nurses’ leadership style perception was regarding transformational and transactional leadership style (75.09 and74.87%, respectively) and the lowest mean score was regarding laissez-faire leadership style (62. 29%). Moreover, the highest mean percent score of nurses’ WE was dedication (91.51%), and the lowest mean percent score for absorption (80.42%) domain. Most staff nurses had a high level of WE (89.3%). In addition, there was a highly strong significant positive correlation between each of transformational, transactional leadership styles of unit nurse manager, and staff nurses’ WE (r=0.325 and P=0.000, and r=0.260, and P=0.000), whereas there was a negative significant correlation between laissez-faire leadership style of unit nurse manager and staff nurses WE (r=–0.125 and P=0.040). Conclusion The study concluded that there was a highly strong significant positive correlation between each of transformational and transactional leadership styles of unit nurse manager and staff nurses WE. However, there was a negative significant correlation between laissez-faire leadership style of unit nurse manager and staff nurses’ WE. Recommendation The study recommended that hospital administrators should support staff with adequate rewards to motivate them. Nurse managers should perform regular meetings with their staff nurses to identify staff work problems and help them to find solutions which improve their WE. Moreover, hospital administrators should perform regular assessment of unit nurse managers’ skills, knowledge, and behavior before enrollment in the leadership position.