The Relationship Between Managerial Motivation, Leadership, Nurse Outcomes and Patient Satisfaction

Healthcare    Managers/Executives/Administrators

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TITLE The Relationship Between Managerial Motivation, Leadership, Nurse Outcomes and Patient Satisfaction
 
RESEARCHER Donna K. McNeese-Smith (B)
School of Nursing
UCLA
Journal of Organizational Behavior: Vol 20, 243-259 (1999)

OBJECTIVE
To determine the relationship of manager motivation to leadership behaviors of the nurse manager, staff nurse outcomes of job satisfaction, productivity and organizational commitment, and the patient outcome of patient satisfaction.

METHODOLOGY
The study was conducted in a large LA County hospital associated with a major university. All nursing managers, their full-time registered nurse employees, and patients from each of the participating units, were selected. The sample included 19 nursing managers and 285 nurses. Data were collected via interviews with 299 patients. Motivation of the nursing manager was measured through the Job Choice Exercise (Stahl, 1986) and by a researcher-derived power motivation question. The LPI Self and Other were completed (with internal reliabilities reported <.84). Job satisfaction was measured using the Job-in-General Scale (Smith et al. 1989), productivity (McNeese-Smith, 1995), and organizational commitment (Porter et al. 1974). The typical manager was female, between the age of 30 to 49 years, with a bachelor's degree in nursing and 11 years or more of nursing experience. The typical nurse was also female, aged 30 to 49 years, and 43 percent holding a BSN and another 29 percent an associate's degree. Patients were 56 percent female, with an average age of 35 years or more.

KEY FINDINGS
There were few significant relationships between managerial motivation scores, manager leadership scores and patient satisfaction scores. However, "attention of nurses to your condition" had low but positive (significant) correlation's with all five leadership practices. When manager motivation was assessed by nurses there were significant positive correlation's between achievement motivation and all five leadership practices. Organizational commitment, productivity, and job satisfaction were significantly and positively correlated with all five leadership practices.