Linkages Between Transformational Leadership, Work Meaningfulness and Work Engagement: A Multilevel Cross-Sectional Study

Impact of caring leadership on nurses' work engagement: examining the chain mediating effect of calling and affective organization commitment

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have established a positive link between nurse managers' caring leadership and nurses' work engagement, but the processes and conditions through which this leadership style influences positive work behaviors remain largely unexplored. To address this gap and contribute to the existing body of knowledge, we developed a chain-mediated effects model to elucidate the impact of caring leadership on nurses' work engagement and the underlying mechanisms. In this model, we identified professional mission and affective organizational commitment as the mediating variables, offering a novel perspective on the relationship between caring leadership and work engagement.

METHODS

A robust multi-center and large-sample cross-sectional survey was conducted, involving 2502 first-line nurses from six general tertiary hospitals across the eastern, central, and western regions of China. The data collection instruments included a comprehensive questionnaire covering demographic information, the caring leadership scale, the Chinese calling scale, the affective organizational commitment scale, and the Utrecht work engagement scale. Data were meticulously screened and analyzed, employing descriptive analysis to summarize the demographic information, correlation analysis to test the relationship among the variables, stepwise regression analysis to explore the mediating role of calling and affective organization commitment, and the bootstrap method to test the chain mediating effect. This rigorous methodology not only ensures the reliability and validity of research findings but also instills confidence in the robustness of this research.

RESULTS

The results indicated a positive relationship among caring leadership, calling, affective organizational commitment, and nurses' work engagement (p < 0.001). Specifically, caring leadership was significantly associated with nurses' calling (β = 0.55, p < 0.001), affective organizational commitment (β = 0.21, p < 0.001), and work engagement (β = 0.05, p < 0.001). And the analysis further revealed that calling and affective organizational commitment mediate the process between caring leadership and work engagement(Effect: 0.17, 0.03, 0.05), with a relative effect size of 89.3% for the total indirect effect. These findings highlight the crucial role of these factors in enhancing nurses' work engagement, providing valuable insights for healthcare leaders and policymakers.

CONCLUSION

Caring leadership positively predicts nurses' work engagement and indirectly mediates calling and affective organizational commitment. The results of this study revealed that the mechanisms of caring leadership influence nurses' work engagement, which provides a new approach to strengthening nurses' work engagement and improving patient healthcare outcomes and organizational performance. Healthcare organizations face continuous challenges; this study embodies the significance of caring leadership in improving nurses' work experience and increasing their work engagement. Nursing managers should enhance their knowledge of caring leadership and receive caring leadership training, thus actively improving their leadership behaviors in nurse management, enhancing leadership effectiveness, and creating more possibilities for developing healthcare organizations.

How Does Empowering Leadership Relate to Work Engagement? The Roles of Organisational Identification and Workplace Well-Being

Scholars tend to believe that effective leadership contributes to facilitating employee work engagement. Based on social identity theory and self-determination theory, this study explored how empowering leadership affects employee work engagement through the mediating roles of organisational identification and workplace well-being. A sample of 3645 front-line employees in China participated in this study. A structural equation model analysis was performed to examine the hypothetical model. Sex, age, degree of education, wage income per month (RMB), and subjective social class were covariables. The results indicated that (a) empowering leadership was positively related to work engagement, (b) organisational identification and workplace well-being played a partial mediating role in the relationship, and (c) organisational identification and workplace well-being had a chain mediating effect on empowering leadership and work engagement. These findings advance the understanding of the effect of empowering leadership on employees' working attitudes and behaviours. They also contribute to potential interventions that boost employee work engagement.

Resilience, organizational support, and innovative behavior on nurses' work engagement: a moderated mediation analysis

Objectives

To investigate the status of nurses' work engagement and the relationship among resilience, organizational support, and innovative behaviors.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, we investigated 496 nurses in Hunan, China, from July 2022 to December 2022. A descriptive statistical approach, Pearson's correlation analysis and Hayes' PROCESS Macro Models 4 and 14 were used to analyze the available data.

Results

The level of work engagement among nurses was found to be moderate. Resilience positively predicted work engagement among nurses. Organizational support played a partially mediating role in the association between resilience and work engagement. Furthermore, innovative behavior played a moderating role in the association between adaptive resilience and work engagement.

Conclusion

Based on the results, greater attention needs to be paid to nurses' work engagement. A high level of resilience, organizational support, and innovative behavior may increase work engagement among nurses. Nursing leaders can take measures to increase work engagement among nurses by improving nurses' resilience and organizational support, and cultivating innovative behavior.

Leisure crafting and work engagement among Chinese ICU nurses: The multiple mediation effect of recovery experience and humanistic care ability

AIMS

Based on the conservation of resources theory, this study explored the intermediary role of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses' recovery experience and humanistic care ability between leisure crafting and work engagement.

BACKGROUND

As the ICU is an important life-saving department, the level of work engagement of nurses directly affect the quality of life and health outcomes of patients. Actively seeking countermeasures to improve the work engagement level of ICU nurses is of great significance to enhancing the nursing quality of the ICU. According to the theory of resource conservation, the resources owned by individuals are limited and must be replenished promptly and effectively to maintain relatively stable physical, mental, and working states. Therefore, determining ways for ICU nurses to supplement the consumed resources effectively and efficiently in a limited time to maintain a high level of work engagement is the main concern of this study.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study from January 2023 to March 2023, 478 ICU nurses were recruited by convenience sampling. The survey tools included the Leisure Crafting Scale, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9, the Caring Ability Inventory, and the Recovery Experience Questionnaire. Descriptive data and Pearson correlation coefficients were analyzed via SPSS 26.0 (IBM Corp.). PROCESS v4.0 (by Andrew F. Hayes) Macro Model 6 was applied to analyze the serial multiple mediator models. We used the STROBE checklist to report the results.

RESULTS

First, the results showed that leisure crafting, humanistic care ability, and recovery experience were positively correlated with work engagement. Second, recovery experience and humanistic care ability played a partially mediating role between leisure crafting and work engagement, respectively. Third, recovery experience and humanistic care ability also had a serial mediation effect between leisure crafting and work engagement.

CONCLUSION

The findings of the study indicated that improving nurses' active control of leisure time may have particularly positive effects on ICU nurses' work engagement through increasing recovery experience and humanistic care ability.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND NURSING POLICY

Administrators can formulate intervention measures to improve the leisure crafting level of ICU nurses, promote work-life balance, which enhances recovery and supports engagement with patient-focused humanistic care, and have a positive impact on the work engagement of ICU nurses.

Cross-level research on the impact of self-serving leadership on employee innovation behavior: The roles of workplace anxiety and team psychological safety

Employee innovative behavior is significant in maintaining an organization's sustainable development. This study explored the impact of team psychological safety and workplace anxiety on the association between self-serving leadership and employee innovation behavior by synthesizing social information processing theory, conservation of resources theory, and ego depletion theory. We conducted a hierarchical linear model analysis using three-wave paired data collected from 86 leaders and 392 employees. The research results showed that self-serving leadership is negatively correlated with employee innovation behavior. Meanwhile, team psychological safety and workplace anxiety mediated this relationship. In addition, team psychological safety mitigates the impact of workplace anxiety on employee innovation behavior and the indirect impact of self-serving leadership on employee innovation behavior via workplace anxiety. These findings have a number of theoretical and practical implications in the domains of self-serving leadership and employee innovation behavior.