Relationship between ethical leadership and workaholism among nursing supervisors as perceived by staff nurses

Abstract

Background Workaholism develops as a result of working long hours to reach mutually agreed-upon goals by ethical leaders who serve as role models and encourage ethical behavior. Aim To examine the relationship between nursing supervisors’ ethical leadership and their workaholism as perceived by staff nurses. Design A descriptive correlational research design was adopted to achieve the study. Setting The study was conducted at Sohag University Hospital. Patients As convenience samples, 25 nursing supervisors and 240 staff nurses were recruited. Tools Three tools were used for data collection as follows: demographic data forms and ethical leadership and workaholism analysis questionnaires. Results Overall, 53.3% of staff nurses reported leaders with low levels of ethical leadership, whereas 46.7% of them were led by ethical leaders. Moreover, 73.3% of leaders had low levels of workaholism, whereas 26.7% of leaders had high levels of workaholism. Conclusion There were statistically significant differences and positive relations between ethical leadership and workaholism among the recruited participants. Recommendations Training programs should be conducted to teach nursing supervisors about ethical leadership, as well as the dangers of workaholism and how to prevent them.