Rs. Morrison et al., THE RELATION BETWEEN LEADERSHIP-STYLE AND EMPOWERMENT ON JOB-SATISFACTION OF NURSES, The Journal of nursing administration, 27(5), 1997, pp. 27-34
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.