Transformational Leadership and Job Satisfaction of Advanced Practice Nurses in Public Health Settings

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to validate the relationships among transformational leadership behaviors, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and intent to leave the nursing profession.

METHODOLOGY
A random sample of 750 advanced practice nurses (APN) in public health settings in a southwestern state were selected (population = 6,571), of which 121 participated (16% response rate). Respondents completed the Leadership Practices Inventory, Organizational Commitment (Meyer & Allen, 2004), Job Satisfaction (Weiss et al. 1967), and a three-item Intent to Leave scale created by the author. The typical respondent was a clinical nurse (92%), female (97%), between 50-59 years of age (53%), holding a master’s degree (62%).

Internal reliability coefficients for the five leadership practices were .72 for Modeling, .75 for Challenging, .86 for both Encouraging and Enabling, and .88 for Inspiring. Exploratory factor analysis with the LPI, organizational commitment and job satisfaction scales were found to be unacceptable with this sample and so the author reformulated the scales; e.g., the author constructed a single summed composite scale of the LPI items and labeled this measure "transformational leadership."

KEY FINDINGS
"The data revealed that leadership is the primary factor that contributes to promoting organizational commitment, increasing job satisfaction, and retaining employment" (p. 99).