Nursing Publications
The Influence of Authentic Leadership Behaviours on Trust and Work Outcomes in Health Care Staff
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2009
Journal
Journal of Leadership Studies
Volume
3
Issue
2
First Page
6
Last Page
23
Abstract
A key element of a healthy work environment is trust: trust between staff and their leaders. Authentic leadership is proposed as the core of effective leadership needed to build trust because of its clear focus on the positive role modeling of honesty, integrity, and high ethical standards in the development of leader-follower relationships. A model linking authentic leadership behaviors with trust in management, perceptions of supportive groups and work outcomes (including voice or speaking-up behavior, self-rated job performance, and burnout) using secondary analysis procedures was examined. The hypothesized model was tested using structural equation modeling in two samples of health care employees from a western Canadian cancer care agency: clinical care providers including nurses, pharmacists, physicians, and other professionals (N = 147) and nonclinical employees including administrative, support, and research staff (N = 188). Findings suggest that supportive leader behavior and trust in management are necessary for staff to be willing to voice concerns and offer suggestions to improve the workplace and patient care.
Notes
Published in: Journal of Leadership Studies, Volume 3, Issue 2, Pages 6 - 23. doi: 10.1002/jls.20104