STAFF NURSES AND NURSE MANAGERS PERCEPTIONS OF JOB-RELATED EMPOWERMENT AND MANAGERIAL SELF-EFFICACY

Although much has been written about the importance of empowerment in nursing, few theoretical frameworks provide guidance for nurse adminis trators in their attempts to create empowered nursing work environment s. The authors describe a study testing Kanter's Theory of Structural Power in Organizations in a nursing setting. They argue that the findi ngs provide evidence of the usefulness of this model for increasing pe rceptions of job-related empowerment of both staff nurses and managers . Specific empowerment strategies derived from Kanter's theory are des cribed.