Abstract:
The Problem. The purpose of this study was to
determine whether a significant relationship existed between job satisfaction of long-term care facilities' Directors of Nurses and the leadership style practiced by their administrators. In addition, the relationship between the length of time they had worked with their current administrator and job satisfaction was studied.
Procedure. A Job Satisfaction Survey developed by Paul Spector (1985) was mailed to 100 percent of the long-term care facilities' Directors of Nurses in a midwestern state. The survey was designed to measure overall employee job satisfaction. The total response rate was 66 percent.
Findings: A significant relationship was found between job satisfaction of long-term care facilities' Directors of Nurses and the leadership style practiced by their administrators. In addition, a significant correlation was found between the length of time Directors of Nurses had worked with their current administrator and job satisfaction.
Conclusions: The results of this study can be of great value to nursing home owners and administrators who are interested in subordinate job satisfaction, employee retention, and provision of quality care to patients residing in their long-term care facility. Assisting administrators to better understand the needs of their Directors of Nurses could lead to a more effective and productive working relationship and an increased tenure of the nursing administrator. Awareness of the perceived importance of participatory leadership, as it influences the job satisfaction of Directors of Nurses, can influence the planning of management strategies that promote optimal performance by the long-term care facility administrative team.
Recommendation. Recommendations for future research include replicating this study using different geographical areas, administering a
leadership style-questionnaire, and statistically
analyzing the demographical data.
