Abstract
BACKGROUND: Effective leadership by nursing unit managers can empower nurses, which is known to positively affect their performance and organizational commitment. However, a paucity of studies has investigated the mediating role of empowerment on the relationship between ethical leadership and the performance and organizational commitment of nurses. PURPOSE: This study was designed to investigate empowerment as a mediator between the ethical leadership of nursing managers and the professional performance and organizational commitment of clinical nurses. METHODS: Two hundred and twenty nurses working in tertiary general hospitals in South Korea participated in an online survey conducted from August 1 to September 30, 2020. Mediation analysis was performed using the Hayes PROCESS macro for SPSS. RESULTS: Empowerment was found to mediate the relationship between ethical nursing leadership and, respectively, clinical nurse performance and organizational commitment. Notably, ethical nursing leadership was also found to directly influence organizational commitment in clinical nurses. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Empowerment significantly and positively mediates the influence of ethical nursing leadership on key nursing productivity outcomes such as nursing performance and organizational commitment. Thus, empowering clinical nurses is critical to improving their performance and organizational commitment. Ethical leadership by nursing unit managers can help empower nurses and improve their performance.