Investigating the relationship between the professional burnout of Greek nursing staff and their leadership styles

Abstract

The present research investigated the relationship between the burnout syndrome and the different types of leadership adopted in nurses and compared these variables in the public and private sectors. The sample consisted of 150 nursing staff working in public hospitals and 90 nursing staff working in a private hospital. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Bass and Avolio’s (1994) Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and a demographic and work- related questionnaire were used in order to assess the variables under investigation. Moderate levels of scores were noted in each subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory, with the highest scores observed in the emotional exhaustion subscale and the lowest in the depersonalization subscale. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire identified transformational leadership as the form of leadership with the highest mean, specifically the dimension of charismatic leadership as a characteristic, but with a slight difference from transactional leadership, while the lowest mean was shown by non-leadership behaviour and the dimension of passive maintenance of the status quo of transactional leadership. Results from linear regression indicated non-leadership or laissez-faire behaviour as a predictor of emotional exhaustion and systematic reinforcement, a dimension of transactional leadership, as a predictor of depersonalization levels (negative direction) and a sense of personal accomplishment. Public sector nurses reported higher levels of burnout than those in the private sector, and public sector nurses also displayed higher ratings of passive forms of leadership, such as maintaining status quo and non-leadership behaviour, which indicates that employees in the private sector appear to be more satisfied and effective.