THE RELATION BETWEEN LEADERSHIP-STYLE AND EMPOWERMENT ON JOB-SATISFACTION OF NURSES

Objective: The authors explore the relation between leadership style a nd empowerment and its effect on job satisfaction among the nursing st aff of a regional medical center. Background: Several empirical studie s on transformational leadership found that transformational leadershi p behaviors were positively related to work team success and leadershi p effectiveness. Transformational leadership processes have also been suggested to enhance followers' work-oriented values and shape the sel f-efficacies of followers. Employee empowerment map be influenced by t he perception that the organization cares about its employees' well-be ing and that their work is valued. Empowering nurses may increase job satisfaction and improve patient care. Leadership style and empowermen t influence job satisfaction among workers. Methods: AU nursing depart ment staff were invited to complete a self-report questionnaire with n o identifying information. Leadership style was measured using Bass's Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, empowerment was measured with it ems from Spreitzer's Psychological Empowerment instrument, and job sat isfaction was measured by Warr, Cook, and Wall's job satisfaction ques tionnaire. Results: Both transformational and transactional leadership were positively related to job satisfaction, as was empowerment. Diff erences in the contributions of empowerment and leadership style in pr edicting job satisfaction for licensed and unlicensed workers was evid ent. Conclusion: Designing interventions that allow for the relative i nfluence of leadership style as well as empowerment on varying classif ications of nursing personnel may be a more effective strategy and hav e a greater effect on staff attitudes and behaviors.