Communication Skills and Transformational Leadership Style of First-Line Nurse Managers in Relation to Job Satisfaction of Nurses and Moderators of This Relationship.

Nadežda Jankelová,Zuzana Joniaková

doi:10.3390/healthcare9030346

Nadežda Jankelová, Zuzana Joniaková

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9030346

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Abstract

The job satisfaction of nurses is reflected in almost all organizational outputs of medical facilities. First-line nurse managers (FLNMs), who are directly related to subordinate nurses, have a great influence on this satisfaction. The aim of our paper is to examine the connection between communication skills and the transformation style of FLNMs management with the job satisfaction of nurses and to verify the influence of three moderators on the strength of this relationship. The chosen moderators—the practice of managing FLNMs, the degree of control (span of control) and psychosocial work—follow from theoretical studies. The moderating effect of the variable management practice is also significant from the point of view of Slovak legislation. The sample consisted of 132 FLNMs from five university hospitals in Slovakia. Data collection took place in the form of a questionnaire. All data were processed using the SPSS 24 software package. A series of regression analyzes were used to identify the proposed hypotheses. ANOVA analysis was used to analyze multiple dependencies. We worked at a 5% level of significance. The findings point to the strong direct effects of communication skills and the transformational leadership style of FLNMs on nurses’ job satisfaction. Moderation effects are mild, but significant in the case of management and span of control practices. The lower values of both variables reinforce the positive relationships among the two predictors and the job satisfaction of nurses. The third moderator, psychosocial work factors, also have a significant moderating effect, which is negative, and the higher value of this moderator mitigates both positive direct effects.

Highlights

Global healthcare is in the midst of major changes caused by the current economic challenges facing the world
The results of the research show that the job satisfaction of nurses is most significantly affected by the communication skills of their superiors, in which, the current level was evaluated by the lowest score
First-line nurse managers (FLNMs) themselves evaluate higher leadership skills; they feel less confident in communication skills

Summary

Introduction

Global healthcare is in the midst of major changes caused by the current economic challenges facing the world. We are in an environment of a changing demographic situation, namely, an aging population in the most developed countries and a growing global population. This dynamic environment places high demands on healthcare and requires its effective management [1]. One of the current problems of healthcare and nursing is the high rate of burnout of medical staff and their low job satisfaction. These facts are currently compounded by the high workload and workload of managing the global COVID-19 pandemic.

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