How are empowering leadership, self-efficacy and innovative behavior related with nurses' agency in distributed leadership in Denmark, Italy and Israel?

TLDR

It is shown that empowering leadership and work self-efficacy were positively related with distributed leadership agency, which, in turn, was also related with more innovation, suggesting that nursing managers can increase workplace innovativeness by adopting an empowering leadership style that supports nurses' self- efficacy and distributes leadership tasks.

Abstract

AIM

The purpose of the study is to introduce the concept of distributed leadership to international nursing management by conduct a cross-national investigation of its relationships with empowering nursing leadership, nurses' work self-efficacy and nurses' innovative behavior.

BACKGROUND

Distributed leadership theory suggests that when more people lead processes together, innovation will be superior to solo leadership. However, we need knowledge about how nurse managers may enhance nurses' distributed leadership agency (DLA), and if such results are generalizable across countries.

METHOD

The cross-national survey with an overall purposeful sampling method used questionnaire data from hospital nurses from Israel (n=239), Italy (n=226) and Denmark (n=709). We used validated scales measuring Empowering Leadership, Self-efficacy, Innovative Work Behavior, and DLA.

RESULTS

The results from all three countries showed that empowering leadership and work self-efficacy were positively related with distributed leadership agency, which, in turn, was also related with more innovation.

CONCLUSION

The results may imply that nursing managers can increase workplace innovativeness by adopting an empowering leadership style that supports nurses' self-efficacy and distributes leadership tasks.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

The cross-country robustness of the results may encourage further research in distributed leadership in nurse management, notably with a focus on causal mechanisms.