The associations between benevolent leadership, affective commitment, work engagement and helping behavior of nurses: a cross-sectional study

BMC Nursing

Research

Qiang Jin¹  Xuan He²  Ying Wang³  Yanling Chen³  Xiaolin Shen³  Xinyue Lv⁴  Tao Shen⁵ 

[1] Acupuncture School, Hospital affiliated to Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China;Carey Business School, The Johns Hopkins University, 100 International Dr, 21202, Baltimore, MD, USA;Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu city, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China;International Business School, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, 610031, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China;School of Business Administration, Faculty of Business Administration, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, 610031, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China;

关键词: Benevolent leadership;    Affective commitment;    Work engagement;    Helping behavior;    Social exchange theory;    Hospitals;    Head nurses;    Nurses;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12912-023-01581-6

 received in 2023-08-24, accepted in 2023-10-25,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundBenevolent leadership is common in organizations, including hospitals, and is known to have positive effects on employees. Yet, nursing literature lacks sufficient research on its relationships with nurses’ behavior.MethodsIn March to April 2022, a cross-sectional study was carried out involving 320 nurses employed across various hospitals in Sichuan Province, China. Benevolent leadership, affective commitment, work engagement, and helping behavior were evaluated using the Benevolent Leadership Scale, Affective Commitment Scale, Work Engagement Scale, and Helping Behavior Questionnaire, respectively. The study employed structural equation model and the bootstrap method to investigate the proposed relationships.ResultsThe SEM analysis results indicated a positive association between benevolent leadership and several outcomes among nurses. Specifically, benevolent leadership was found to be positively associated with nurses’ affective commitment (β = 0.58, p < .001), work engagement (β = 0.02, p < .001), and helping behavior (β = 0.17, p = .001). Additionally, there was a significant indirect effect between benevolent leadership and nurses’ work engagement through affective commitment (β = 0.08, p = .007) as well as between benevolent leadership and helping behavior through affective commitment (β = 0.16, p < .001).ConclusionsThis study’s findings emphasize the crucial role of benevolent leadership in fostering nurses’ positive attitudes and behaviors in the workplace. Hospital administrators could promote the benevolent leadership of head nurses to enhance nurses’ affective commitment, work engagement, and helping behaviors.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

【 图 表 】

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