A systematic review of the relationships between nurse leaders' leadership styles and nurses' work‐related well‐being

Abstract

Aim: This systematic review aimed to summarize current research knowledge about the relationships between nurse leaders' leadership styles and nurses' work-related well-being. Background: Due to the global shortage of nurses, it is essential for nurse leaders to maximize staff retention and work-related well-being. Methods: Following Cochrane Collaboration procedures, the PRISMA statement and PRISMA checklist, relevant quantitative studies published between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2020 were retrieved from the CINAHL, Scopus, PubMed and Medic databases and then systematically reviewed. Seventeen cross-sectional and follow-up studies with surveys were retained for inclusion and evaluated with the Critical Appraisal of a Survey instrument. The data were summarized narratively. Results: Three core themes of leadership styles: destructive, supportive and relationally focused, were identified, with statistically significant direct and indirect connections between nurses' work-related well-being. Well-being was mainly assessed in terms of burnout. Effects of leadership styles on work-related well-being were reportedly mediated by trust in leader, trust in organization, empowerment, work-life conflict, relational social capital, emotional exhaustion, affectivity, job satisfaction and motivation. Conclusion: Nurse leaders' leadership styles affect nurses' work-related well-being. In developing intervention studies and providing training on work-related well-being, the impact of the indirect effects and the mediating factors of the leadership styles should be acknowledged.

The Importance of Monitoring the Psychological Wellbeing and Mental Health of Nursing Staff for Sustainable Management

“…The research showed that leaders' support, quality of work life, work satisfaction, work-life balance, and managing stress affect employees' psychological wellbeing and mental health in nursing. According to recent research, managers should demonstrate strong leadership skills, problem-solving skills, and a strong sense of resolving inconsistencies to prevent stress from negatively affecting wellbeing at work [11,[57][58][59]. Our results show that with psychological wellbeing, together with quality of work life, work-life balance, and managing stress, we can explain one-third of the variance of the mental health of employees in nursing.…”

Nurse leaders' work‐related well‐being—Relationships to a superior's transformational leadership style and structural empowerment

“…Work‐related well‐being can be considered as a result of several organisational and individual factors (Buffet et al, 2013 ); therefore, it should be assessed on a multifactorial level by including aspects such as structural empowerment and leadership styles (Niinihuhta & Häggman‐Laitila, 2022 ). In addition, previous studies have revealed that work‐related well‐being is associated with stress (Liu et al, 2019 ; Niinihuhta et al, 2022 ), working conditions, experienced status of health, sense of coherence (Niinihuhta et al, (2022 ) and leadership skills (Niinihuhta & Häggman‐Laitila, 2022 ) underlining the need to take also these into the account in the future studies.…”

“…In particular, the transformational leadership style has been found to positively influence nurses' work‐related well‐being (Cummings et al, 2018 ; Kaffashpoor & Sadeghian, 2020 ). Nurse leaders' leadership styles, along with the effect on work‐related well‐being among nurses, have been extensively studied, with most research focussing on the transformational, ethical, transactional and laissez‐faire leadership styles (Niinihuhta & Häggman‐Laitila, 2022 ). However, there is limited evidence of how nurse leaders' superiors' leadership styles and nurse leaders' work‐related well‐being are related.…”

“…There is extensive knowledge about how nurses' work‐related well‐being is associated with structural empowerment and their leader's leadership style. For example, it is well known that nurses who work in an environment with strong structural empowerment and relational leadership styles show high levels of work‐related well‐being (Cummings et al, 2018 ; Laschinger et al, 2013 ; Niinihuhta & Häggman‐Laitila, 2022 ) By contrast, the associations between nurse leaders' work‐related well‐being and perceived structural empowerment and their superiors' leadership style have not studied, to the best of our knowledge, in the recent decade. Only one article (Laschinger et al, 2012 ) adopted the nurse leader's perspective when reporting the associations between transformational leadership and structural empowerment, and this was published 10 years ago.…”

A modified Delphi study on establishing a curriculum content structure for the leadership and management competency cultivation for future nurse managers in China

“…In such circumstances, negative consequences may happen in clinical care. According to previous studies, leadership and management competency of nurse managers were significantly associated with patient outcomes and nursing workforce outcomes, the lack of required competencies for nurse managers might reduce job satisfaction and increase turnover among nursing staff [ 13 , 14 , 15 ], which may lead to reduced quality of care, decreased patient satisfaction, and threaten patient health outcomes [ 16 , 17 ]. Meanwhile, incompetency of nurse manager also increased the likelihood of high level of role stress and burnout for manager themselves [ 18 ].…”