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This study aims to describe nurse leaders’ experiences of work-related well-being and its association with background variables, working conditions, work engagement, sense of coherence and burnout.

An electronic survey design was used. Data was collected between December 2015 and May 2016 with an instrument that included demographic questions and four internationally validated scales: the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, QPS Nordic 34+, the shortened Sense of Coherence scale and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Data was analysed using statistical methods.

A total of 155 nurse leaders completed the questionnaire, giving a 44% response rate. Most of them worked as nurse managers (89%). Participants’ work-related well-being scores ranged from 8 to 10. Statistically significant relationships were found between participants’ work-related well-being and their leadership skills, current position, sense of coherence and levels of burnout. In addition, there were statistically significant relationships between work-related well-being and all dimensions of working conditions.

This study underlines the fact that work-related well-being should not be evaluated based on a single factor. The participants’ perceived work-related well-being was high, although almost half of them reported always or often experiencing stress. The results suggest that nurse leaders may have resources such as good leadership and problem-solving skills, supportive working conditions and a high sense of coherence that prevent the experienced stress from adversely affecting their work-related well-being.

In spite of the observation that nurse managers’ style of authority in sub-Saharan Africa is one of antagonistic vibe and lordship, there is not much information on the kind of leadership provided in the hospitals by nurse managers. Following the notion that transformational leadership is a solution to many leadership problems and often creates valuable positive change in followers, this study aims to examine the level of transformational leadership behavior of nurse leaders; determining the effects of the sub-constructs of emotional intelligence (EI) on the transformational leadership behavior of leaders; and determining whether there is a difference in the exhibition of transformational leadership behavior due to the gender of leaders.

The study uses five of the major public hospitals in the Greater Accra Region (the capital) of Ghana. Evidence of such links would be considerable for Ghanaian healthcare providers in their quest to find potential nurse leaders to train, so as not to dwell highly on the seniority criterion in the selection of leaders. Using a quantitative approach, the Wong Law EI Scale (2002) and leadership items adapted from Rafferty and Griffin (2004) were used to collect the data. A descriptive statistics (mean) revealed that nurse leaders from the selected hospitals exhibited a high level (M= 3.90, SD = 0.14) of transformational leadership behavior.

A multiple regression analysis revealed that three of the sub-constructs of EI significantly affected transformational leadership with the “self-emotion appraisal” construct having the strongest effect on transformational leadership behavior (β = 0.508, p = 0.000). However, the others’ emotion appraisal sub-construct did not significantly affect transformational leadership. Furthermore, the results from the independent sample t-test revealed no significant difference in the exhibition of transformational leadership due to gender.

Based on the findings, when leaders are trained to be emotionally intelligent and their skills are fostered, they are more likely to exhibit transformational leadership behaviors, which will further result in organizational effectiveness and follower satisfaction. Hospitals must focus on the control of one’s emotions at work, and subsequently, understanding others’ emotions. In developing transformational leaders, there is the need to identify some tools that will increase EI level, more specifically, traits related to the understanding of others’ emotion. The findings from this study indicate that one of the factors to check when selecting nurse leaders should be their EI and not necessarily a matter of seniority in many cases in emerging economies.

The originality of this study is in the fact that it focuses on an emerging economy, which is under researched. In Ghana, the criteria for promotion of nurse leaders’ is based strictly on seniority and age and not on factors such as the leaders EI. The profession of nursing is such that leaders need to understand that certain soft skills such as EI are considered necessary to transform the hospitals and staff they lead. This study, therefore, sheds light on these key areas from the perspective of an emerging economy, which are usually not in the domain of literature in the area of healthcare leadership.

The health-care services in Iraq currently face many challenges. The most noted is the lack of effective nursing leaders to meet the growing needs of the health-care services. Effective nursing leadership is critical to the health-care system, affecting work performance, quality of care and staff satisfaction. The literature suggests that nursing leaders in Iraq are not adequately trained to provide leadership to improve the nursing profession and have limited involvement in decision-making. The purpose of this study is to explore the views of nurses on what they believe constitutes effective leadership in Iraq.

A qualitative methods approach is used involving 20 semi-structured interviews of senior nurses. The sample of nurses came from two large general hospitals in Iraq. The qualitative data was thematically analyzed and interpreted.

The study results indicated that there were factors that influence the performance of nurse leader, namely, excessive workload, personal relationship with nursing staff, professional recognition of nursing and selection criteria of leaders. Test results show that there were significant differences in views of the nurses toward nurse leaders’ performance. This research concludes that the nurse leader performance in developing countries is affected by excessive workload, personal relationship with nursing staff, professional recognition of nursing and selection criteria of leaders.

The relevance of the study stems from the scarcity of research on the leader performance in developing countries, while studies on the factors influencing the innovative performance of leaders in nurses’ professional are significantly limited. This study is one of the earliest studies that investigate these factors influencing the nurse leader’s performance.

This study aims to examine nurses’ motivation for leadership and explore important challenges nurses face in leadership positions.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 nurses in leading positions. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.

Nurse leaders are recruited from clinical settings, and the transition process from clinical nurse to leader is demanding. Their motivation for leadership seems to be in human values and caring for others. Lack of strategic focus might be a challenge. Nurses in leadership positions emphasize the importance of good relationships with the staff and require an increased focus on strategic leadership.

Studies have revealed the frustration associated with the role of a nursing leader. According to an evaluation of a clinical leadership development programme, nurses were found to be inadequately prepared for their roles. They had not experienced positive role models, they felt overwhelmed and they regarded colleagues and nursing management structures as unsupportive. There is a need for further research into effective measures to strengthen nurse managers.

The role of leaders has changed over time. There are now increasing requirements and objectives with regard to laws, action plans, improvement projects and cost-effectiveness. A nurse leader has both many tasks and great responsibility. Good leadership relies on skilled nurse leaders meeting statutory requirements in patient care and delivering good quality and patient-safe services. Engaging in process-oriented guidance, such as mentoring, is one way to become more aware of oneself as a professional leader (Mathena, 2002).

By identifying and understanding the specific challenges that nurse leaders face, this study can contribute to the development of interventions and strategies to improve leadership practices, thereby enhancing organizational effectiveness.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has challenged leadership in hospitals worldwide. The experiences of leadership during the pandemic changed leadership significantly. This study aims to describe nurse leaders’ perceptions of what future leadership in hospital settings in the post-pandemic era needs to be like.

A qualitative descriptive study was used. A total of 20 nurse leaders from the Finnish central hospital were interviewed from June to October 2021. The data were analysed using inductive content analysis.

The analysis revealed five main categories describing nurse leaders’ perceptions of future leadership in hospital settings in the post-pandemic era: digitalisation and hybrid working culture, development of sustainable working conditions, moving smoothly to the post-pandemic era, dissolution of traditional regimes of organisation and flexibility in leadership.

In the post-pandemic era, the constantly changing demands and challenges currently facing healthcare systems have significantly increased the complexity of hospital organisations. This requires critical evaluation and change to traditional leadership. Enhancing flexibility and authenticity in leadership, strengthening competencies, implementing a wide range of digital resources and increasing the appeal of the nursing profession to build the next generation of nurses – all of these are needed to provide sustainability in future healthcare.

The results identify the critical points of leadership that need to be developed for future challenges and for maintaining a sufficient supply of qualified professionals. Acting on this information will enhance flexibility in organisations and lead to acceleration of changes and the development of new kinds of leadership in the future

The purpose of this study is to emphasise nurses’ experiences of nurse leaders' changing roles over 25 years.

A qualitative study was performed with individual interviews of eight nurse managers. From Norway and Finland, all nurse managers with more than 25 years of experience and working in specialist health care and primary health care were included in the study.

These nurse managers have a lot of knowledge and resolved conflicts using improved methods and have experienced continuous change. The role of nurse manager ranges from bedside to exclusive administrative work. The organisations have become more extensive, and the staff has grown. These changes have led to many challenges and more complex organisations.

Nurse managers who have worked for over a 25-year period had useful experience and could handle many new challenges. They can change themselves and their organisation tasks over time and follow the development of society.

Based on their experiences as novices at the beginning of their career, the informants demonstrate their development to the level of expert manager.

Not only does leadership produce changes, but those changes produce leadership in organisations. The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical and empirical analysis of the transformation of leadership at two different historical points in a health care organisation. It leans on the perspective of social constructionism, drawing especially from the ideas of Berger and Luckmann (1966). The paper seeks to improve understanding of how leaders themselves construct leadership in relation to organisational change.

The empirical material was gathered in a longitudinal case study in a nursing organisation in two different historical and situational points. It consists of written narratives produced by nurse leaders that are analysed by applying discourse analysis.

The empirical study revealed that the constructions of leadership were dramatically different at the two different historical and situational points. Leadership showed up as a complex, fragile and changing phenomenon, which fluctuates along with the other organisational changes. The results signal the importance of agency in leadership and the central role of “significant others”.

The paper questions the traditional categorisation and labelling of leadership as well as the cross-sectional studies in understanding leadership transformation. Its originality relates to the longitudinal perspective on transformation of leadership in the context of a health care organisation.

Authentic leadership is an emerging theoretical model purported to focus on the root component of effective leadership. The purpose of this paper is to describe the relevance of authentic leadership to the advancement of nursing leadership practice and research and address the question of whether this is a new theory for leadership or an old one in new packaging.

The paper outlines the origins and key elements of the model, assesses the theoretical, conceptual and measurement issues associated with authentic leadership and compares it with other leadership theories frequently reported in the nursing literature.

The emerging authentic leadership theory holds promise for explaining the underlying processes by which authentic leaders and followers influence work outcomes and organizational performance. Construct validity of authentic leadership has preliminary documentation and a few studies have shown positive relationships between authenticity and trust. Furthermore, the clarity of the authenticity construct and comprehensiveness of the overall theoretical framework provide a fruitful base for future research examining the relationship between authentic leadership and the creation of healthier work environments.

A clear focus on the relational aspects of leadership, the foundational moral/ethical component, a potential linkage of positive psychological capital to work engagement and the emphasis on leader and follower development in the authentic leadership framework are closely aligned to current and future nursing leadership practice and research priorities for the creation of sustainable changes in nursing work environments.

Centralization, mergers and cost reductions have generally led to increasing levels of span of control (SOC), and thus potentially to lower leadership capacity. The purpose of this paper is to explore how a large SOC impacts hospital staff and their leaders.

The study is based on a qualitative explorative case study of three large inpatient wards.

The study finds that the nursing staff and their frontline leaders experience challenges in regard to visibility and role of the leader, e.g., in creating overview, coordination, setting-up clear goals, following up and being in touch. However, large wards also provide flexibility and development possibilities.

The authors discuss the implications of these findings for decision makers in deciding future SOC and for future SOC research.

Only few studies have qualitatively explored the consequences of large SOC in hospitals.

The purpose of the study is to determine whether one leader set-up is better than the others according to interdisciplinary cooperation and leader legitimacy.

The study is a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews at three Danish hospitals.

The study found that the leadership set-up did not have any clear influence on interdisciplinary cooperation, as all wards had a high degree of interdisciplinary cooperation independent of which leadership set-up they had. Instead, the authors found a relation between leadership set-up and leader legitimacy. In cases where staff only referred to a leader from their own profession, that leader had legitimacy within the staff group. When there were two leaders from different professions, they only had legitimacy within the staff group from their own profession. Furthermore, clinical specialty also could influence legitimacy.

The study shows that leadership set-up is not the predominant factor that creates interdisciplinary cooperation; but rather, leader legitimacy also should be considered. Additionally, the study shows that leader legitimacy can be difficult to establish and that it cannot be taken for granted. This is something chief executive officers should bear in mind when they plan and implement new leadership structures. Therefore, it would also be useful to look more closely at how to achieve legitimacy in cases where the leader is from a different profession to the staff.