Abstract
AIMS: This study was designed to investigate the impact of inclusive leadership on challenge-oriented citizenship behaviors and examine the mediating role of organizational justice on the relationship between inclusive leadership and challenge-oriented citizenship behaviors among nurses. BACKGROUND: Leaders exhibiting an inclusive leadership style have the potential to create a positive work climate and motivate members of the organization. However, the mechanisms by which organizational justice contributes to this process remain to be explored, particularly in terms of how it motivates challenge-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors. METHOD: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among nurses in China at the end period of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 527 registered nurses were enrolled and completed the self-report questionnaires including inclusive leadership scale, organizational justice scale, and challenge-oriented citizenship behavior scale. The hypotheses were tested using hierarchical multiple regression analyses and structural equation modelling. RESULTS: The results of empirical tests revealed that nurse leader's inclusive leadership had a positive relationship on nurses' challenge-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors (β = 0.823, p < 0.001) after controlling several demographic covariates. Meanwhile, inclusive leadership was positively linked to organizational justice (β = 0.747, p < 0.001), and the indirect effect of inclusive leadership on nurses' challenge-oriented citizenship behaviors through organizational justice was statistically significant (β = 0.641, p < 0.001). Furthermore, the model fit indices were χ (2)/df = 1.952, RMSEA = 0.043, CFI = 0.979, and TLI = 0.977, indicating that the model had high quality. CONCLUSION: This study could help nurse leaders with inclusive leadership style have a better understanding and taking the advantages of the influence mechanism of organizational justice in inspiring nurses' challenge-oriented citizenship behaviors. While nurse managers can inspire challenge-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors through inclusive leadership, they should also emphasize the evaluative and behavioral-shaping effects of organizational justice. Both leadership and organizational justice are essential to motivate challenge-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors and to foster organizational development. Moreover, managers should focus on the process and conditions of implementing organizational justice to ensure fairness within the organization and to create a conducive environment for challenge-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors.