Abstract
BACKGROUND: Nursing leadership competency is important for staff empowerment, quality improvement, and patient safety, yet inadequate investment in its development hinders its development. This highlights the urgent need for strategic leadership competency building in nursing management. PURPOSE: This study aims to examine the importance of self-assessing leadership competency in guiding Nursing Directors' leadership development and the relationship between nursing directors' leadership quality and nursing staff empowerment. METHODS: The cross-sectional quantitative study included two online surveys completed by 21 Nursing Directors and 260 nursing staff from two hospitals with >90% response rate. Two surveys were conducted: Survey for Nursing Directors adapting items from Management Competency Assessment Project to self-assess competency on leadership and professionalism; Survey for nursing staff using Leadership Behavioral Scales to reflect on Nursing Directors' leadership behaviors as observed by nursing staff. Descriptive statistical analysis (mean, frequencies and percentages) of the 21 behavioral items self-assessed by Nursing Directors and 19 leadership behaviors assessed by nursing staff were performed and reported Pearson correlation test was performed to test corrections of different variables. RESULTS: Nursing Directors' self-assessment on competencies of leadership and professionalism yielded a combined mean score of 4.63 and 4.85 respectively. Between 35% and 60% of staff recognized Nursing Directors' positive leadership behavior which were significantly and positively correlated with four dimensions of psychological empowerment scale used. The study also found consistent differences in the results of the assessment by Nursing Directors and nursing staff between two targeted hospitals. CONCLUSION: The study confirmed that leadership demonstrated by Nursing Directors are important to empower nursing staff and organizational context plays an important role in developing nursing leadership and improving nursing management effectiveness. The study supports the value of management competency self-assessment in identifying competency gaps and competency development needs amongst Nursing Directors.