A Bridge to Leadership Communication Success:: Impact of Leader-Member Exchange on Nursing Administrative Relationships

Abstract

Nurse managers are the cornerstones of nursing administration, and leadership theory can help them achieve administrative success. Our interdisciplinary research team formed a collaboration with a clinical setting to study the nuances of nursing administration communication. The investigation examined the impact of leader-member exchange, a leadership theory that focuses on relationships, in 206 nurses in a 600-bed hospital and found significant correlations with job satisfaction and organizational commitment, but not with organizational citizenship behavior. Nursing implications for retention of nursing workforce and refinement of leadership actions are presented.