Servant leadership behaviour of head nurse assessment and its linkage with nurse work engagement in China.

AIM: To assess the servant leadership behaviour of head nurse and its linkage with nurse work engagement in China. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. METHODS: A anonymous investigation with the stratified cluster randomized sampling of nurse was conducted in Hunan Province of China in December 2020. We administered the Perceived Head Nurse Service Leadership Behaviour Scale and the Chinese version of Utrecht work engagement scale to survey, and analyse its relationships by multiple linear regression. RESULTS: A number of 890 nurses participated in this study. The average score of the perceived servant leadership of head nurse reported by nurses was 78.90 ± 14.04, which was at a medium level. Among its six dimensions, the dimension of promote nurse development scored highest (16.04 ± 2.84), while the dimension of dedication scored lowest (11.39 ± 2.46). Official nurses reported higher perceived servant leadership scores of head nurses than those who were employed and temporary nurses (b = 1.727, 95% CI: 0.054-3.400); nurses in tertiary hospitals reported higher perceived servant leadership scores of head nurses than nurses in primary and secondary hospitals (b = 2.703, 95% CI: 0.305-5.100); and lower perceived servant leadership scores were associated with nurses' job overtime (b = -4.935, 95% CI: -6.891 to -2.978). Nurses' perceived servant leadership of head nurses were positively associated with nurses' work engagement (r = 0.336, p < .05). Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that the perceived servant leadership of head nurse affected nurses' work engagement strongly (b = 0.585, 95% CI: 0.479-0.691). CONCLUSION: The servant leadership behaviour of head nurse in China was at the medium level, which was positively associated with nurses' work engagement. Further research should improve the power of the servant leadership behaviour of head nurse by integrating additional training, policies and support. IMPACT: It is time to consider the servant leadership behaviour of head nurses and its linkage with nurses' work engagement in China seriously, and address the policies, guidelines, curriculum, and practice culture. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: The study was conducted to explore the situation of servant leadership behaviour of head nurses and its linkage with nurses' work engagement in China, which did not include input from the public or the intended participants.