Leadership Practices, Organizational Support, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior among Texas Nursing Leaders and Staff

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to assess the relationships among nurse managers’ self-reported leadership practice, their perceptions of organizational support, and their self-reported organizational citizenship behavior in a healthcare organization.

METHODOLOGY
The sample selection targeted a population of 242 nursing managers, supervisors, and staff nurses in a healthcare industry in Texas, of which 27 nurse managers and 80 staff nurses participated. Respondents completed the Leadership Practices Inventory, the shorter version of SPOS (Survey of Perceived Organizational Support) instrument (Eisenberger, Huntington, et al., 1986), and the OCB (Organizational Citizenship Behavior) instrument (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman, et al., 1990) together with a demographic questionnaire. The typical respondent was female (82%), and 44 percent were Caucasian, 26 percent African-American, and 17% Asian. Most (88%) held an Associate or Bachelor’s degree, and 65 percent were between the ages of 26-45 years. Internal reliability problems lead to elimination of the SPOS scale, while internal reliability of the LPI Self were Model 0.699, Inspire 0.832, Challenge 0.866, Enable 0.816, and Encourage 0.858 and for the LPI-Observer were Model 0.887, Inspire 0.943, Challenge 0.904, Enable 0.849, and Encourage 0.931.

KEY FINDINGS
There was a significant correlation between Enable and OCB for nurse managers, while the correlations between OCB and all five leadership practices were significant for staff nurses.

The author concludes:
Based on the findings of this study, the researcher recommends the development of training for nurse managers, supervisors, and leaders at the hospital where the study was conducted to expand their awareness of the documented fact that staff nurses’ OCB is significantly and directly related to all five components of LP, not only “enabling others.” Currently, the nurse managers at that hospital relate their own OCB to their enabling function. However, their staff nurses consider that all five-LP components are significantly related to their OCB. If the goal of management is to enhance OCB among nurses, then managers can expand their focus from the enabling function to include the other four functions—inspire, encourage, challenge, and model the way—that are also significantly relevant to their staff (pp. 240-241).