Professional development leadership in public organizations: A multi-level study of causes and consequences among head nurses and nurses

Abstract

Professional development leadership is defined by the core ambition to facilitate a shared understanding of professional quality in an organizational unit and realizing it in the service delivery. The core behaviors are defined by attempts to create alignment between organizational goals and professional norms, develop professional knowledge, and activate professional norms and knowledge in practice. A multi-level study of head nurses and nurses at Danish hospital wards shows that head nurses’ execution of professional development leadership is positively related to nurses’ assessments of professional quality. In addition, head nurses’ span of control, their perceptions of the span of control, and their leadership identity are related to nurses’ perceptions of their head nurses’ exercise of professional development leadership. The results indicate that professional development leadership is relevant in public organizations, and that both organizational and leader characteristics may influence whether leaders succeed in exerting professional development leadership that their employees see.