Leadership in Nursing: The Relationship Between Leadership Styles and Professional Satisfaction

Abstract

Introduction: Effective leadership is a critical factor for the quality of healthcare services and nurses’ job satisfaction. Contemporary literature highlights the contribution of Transformational Leadership to improving the work climate and performance.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the leadership styles adopted by nursing managers in public and private hospitals in Greece and to evaluate their relationship with staff effort, perceived effectiveness, and job satisfaction.

Material and Method: A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ – Form 5X), which was distributed electronically to nursing personnel of all educational levels in public and private hospitals in Greece. Convenience sampling was applied, and the final sample consisted of 140 participants. Statistical analysis included descriptive measures, Pearson correlations, and multiple linear regression, with the significance level set at p<0.05.

Results: Transformational leadership emerged as the predominant leadership style (M=3.46, SD=0.45), followed by transactional leadership (M=2.85, SD=0.49), while passive–avoidant leadership showed the lowest scores (M=1.70, SD=0.58) and was negatively associated with all positive outcomes (p<0.001) and positively associated with higher levels of burnout. Transformational leadership was positively correlated with increased effort, perceived effectiveness, and satisfaction with leadership (p<0.001). Multiple regression analysis identified idealized influence, inspirational motivation, and intellectual stimulation as the strongest predictors of positive outcomes.

Conclusions: Transformational leadership emerged as the dominant style among nursing managers and was associated with increased effort, higher effectiveness, and greater employee satisfaction. Strengthening transformational leadership competencies through targeted educational interventions, reducing passive leadership behaviors, and adopting a balanced transformational–transactional approach are recommended.

Keywords: Effectiveness, Job satisfaction, Leadership, Transformational leadership, Nurses, Nursing management