The Relation between Authentic Leadership and Occupational Burnout among Nurses

Abstract

Background: Authentic leadership had a positive effect on work life, which in turn resulted in lower burnout as authentic leadership encourages leaders to create positive and supportive environments that improve nurses' performance and organizational outcomes. Purpose: To assess the relation between authentic leadership and occupational burnout among nurses. Design: A correlational research design was used. Setting: The study was conducted at critical care units and general departments of Menoufia university hospital. Subjects: A simple random sample technique of 300 nurses constitutes the study sample. Instruments: Two instruments were used, which are authentic leadership inventory and Maslach Burnout Inventory. Results: About one half of studied nurses perceived their leaders as having moderate level of authentic leadership, while, about one quarter of them perceived their leaders as having high level of authentic leadership. Also, the highest percentage of studied nurses had low level of burnout and the lowest percentage of them had high level of burnout. Conclusion: There is an inverse moderate highly significant correlation between perceived authentic leadership and burnout among studied nurses. Recommendations: Conduct education program for nursing managers about positive leadership styles including authentic leadership, and its effect on productivity and quality of patient care, conduct training program for nurses about causes of burnout and how to eliminate it.