Nurse executive transformational leadership and organizational commitment

Objective: To investigate the relationship between nurse executive leadership and organizational commitment among nurses in acute care hospitals. Background: A key challenge for organizations is to maximize the contributions of all workers by cultivating their commitment. Nurse leaders are in a position to influence organizational commitment among nurses. Methods: The theoretical constructs underlying this study are the transformational leadership theory and the Etzioni's organizational theory. A cross-sectional, field survey of nurse executives, nurse managers, and staff nurses was conducted to assess nurse executive transformational and transactional leadership and their relationship to organizational commitment. Hypotheses were tested using correlational analysis, and univariate statistics were used to describe the sample. Results: An inverse relationship between nurse executive transformational and transactional leadership and alienative (highly negative) organizational commitment was statistically significant. A positive association was demonstrated between nurse executive leadership and nurse manager leadership. Conclusions: This study supports the effect of nurse executive leadership on nurse manager leadership and on organizational commitment among nurses despite role distance. To the extent that transformational leadership is present, alienative organizational commitment is reduced. This relationship shows the importance of nurse executive leadership in organizational involvement among nurses in the dynamic context of contemporary hospital settings.