Premium
The impact of characteristics of nurses’ relationships with their supervisor, engagement and trust, on performance behaviours and intent to quit
Author(s) -
Rodwell John,
McWilliams John,
Gulyas Andre
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of advanced nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.948
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1365-2648
pISSN - 0309-2402
DOI - 10.1111/jan.13102
Subject(s) - work engagement , psychology , affect (linguistics) , supervisor , loyalty , social psychology , quality (philosophy) , perception , social exchange theory , nursing management , work (physics) , applied psychology , nursing , business , medicine , marketing , political science , mechanical engineering , philosophy , communication , epistemology , neuroscience , law , engineering
Abstract Aims The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of characteristics of nurses’ relationship quality with their manager on engagement and trust, onto in‐role or discretionary behaviours and intent to quit. Background Nurses having a good relationship with their manager are seen as important, yet the mechanisms of how such relationships are beneficial, or which aspects of the relationship are important, is less clear. Two possible mechanisms are through the nurse being more engaged in work, or through building their trust in their employer. In turn, engagement and trust may impact in‐role and discretionary behaviours as well as staff retention. Design Cross‐sectional. Method An online survey in 2013 of 459 nurses across Australia. Results Structural analyses indicated that the affect dimension of relationship quality was negatively related to engagement, whereas contribution and respect were positively related to engagement. The affect and respect aspects were positively related to trust. Engagement positively related to discretionary and in‐role behaviours. Engagement and trust were negatively related to quit intention, as was the loyalty dimension of the nurses’ relationship with their supervisor. However, perceptions of variability in their team's relationship quality with their leader was negatively related to trust and positively related to intent to quit. Conclusions Nurse managers with a nuanced understanding of social exchange at work are likely to maintain more engaged, well‐performing and stable nursing teams. In particular, a willingness by the supervisor to come to their nurses’ defence and having a consistent standard of relationship quality across their nurses is likely to improve nurse retention.