Clinical nurse managers’ leadership practices in Saudi Arabian hospitals: A descriptive cross‐sectional study

AIM: To understand the situational profiles of clinical nurse managers' transformational leadership practices in Saudi hospitals. BACKGROUND: Clinical nurse managers' effective leadership may enable registered nurses to provide safe patient care. METHODS: This included 29 clinical nurse managers and 318 registered nurses from three Saudi hospitals. Data were collected using the leadership practice inventory-self and the leadership practice inventory-observer. RESULTS: A significant difference between self- and observer-assessed transformational leadership practices of clinical nurse managers was found. There was also a significant difference in transformational leadership practice between Saudi and non-Saudi clinical nurse managers. Ward experience of clinical nurse managers was statistically positively associated with higher ratings of "enabling others to act". Length of clinical nurse managers' experience was associated with "enabling others to act" and "encouraging the heart" practices. CONCLUSION: Clinical nurse managers rated their transformational leadership performance higher than that reported by registered nurses. Further, non-Saudi clinical nurse managers working in Saudi hospitals overestimated the extent of their transformational leadership practices. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Clinical nurse managers should gather feedback about their leadership performance regularly and implement required changes. Hospital administrations should provide additional support to clinical nurse managers through effective leadership programmes, enculturation and team-building strategies, to create a shared vision regarding the execution of optimal leadership.