The Moderating Role of Power Distance in The Relationship between Nurse Manager Leadership Style and Nursing Staff Job Satisfaction

Abstract

Vietnam is a developing country with a population of approximately 90 million people (2013). Along with rapid growth in other sectors, the healthcare sector is becoming more comprehensive and modern to meet the testing and treatment demands of the people. Nurses are essential resources to any healthcare organization and managers can utilize different leadership styles to lead, direct their employees. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between transformational and transactional nurse manager leadership style and staff nurse job satisfaction. It also will examine the impacting of power distance on the relationship between transformational leadership, transactional leadership style and nurse job satisfaction. Findings from the study could be used in providing solutions to improve the nurse job satisfaction in Vietnam. Data is collected from some hospitals with a bed capacity of more than 100 with 233 nurses and is analyzed by descriptive statistics, correlation, regression analysis. Results show that transformational leadership style has positive effect while transactional leadership style is not significant on job satisfaction. Power distance has moderated the relationship between transformational leadership style and job satisfaction. It will strengthen for individuals with low power distance. In contrast, power distance has not moderated the relationship between TSL and job satisfaction. The study will support some recommendations which can help hospital administrators and head nurses to build solid and supportive units. Besides, it also will provide some implications as well point some limitations for future studies.