The relationships between clinical nurse leadership and emotional labor, psychological detachment, and perceived organizational support: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Background With the development of society, people are gradually realizing the importance of nursing leadership, which is important for nursing services and the development of nurses. However, there is still a lack of research on nursing leadership in China, which is worthy of further research. Method Using convenient sampling, 263 nurses from three tertiary hospitals in Tianjin were selected and completed the leadership survey questionnaires for a cross-sectional survey study. The study included demographic characteristics, the Emotional Labor Scale, the Psychological Detachment Scale, the Perceived Organizational Support Scale, and the Clinical Leadership Survey. Descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis were performed on the data. Results The average leadership score of the clinical nurses was 4.53 ± 0.54 points. Clinical leadership was positively correlated with emotional labor (p < 0.01, r = 0.432) and perceived organizational support (p < 0.01, r = 0.538). Clinical leadership is negatively correlated with psychological detachment (r=-0.186, p < 0.01). Multiple regression analysis revealed that emotional labor (β = 0.304, p < 0.001) and perceived organizational support (β = 0.439, p < 0.001) accounted for 44.5% of the variance in nurses’ leadership after controlling for demographic variables. Conclusion Clinical nurses have a high level of leadership, and emotional labor and perceived organizational support are important influencing factors. This study provides important evidence for improving nurse leadership. Nursing managers should pay more attention to the psychological and emotional issues of nurses and provide better emotional and instrumental support for clinical nurses. This approach can improve the leadership level of nurses.