Nurse executives' values and leadership behaviors. Conflict or coexistence?

Nurse leaders struggle to provide for the delivery of humanistic and holistic healthcare that is consistent with nursing values in a changing economic environment. There is concern that nurse executives find it increasingly difficult to reconcile the differences between organizational economics and their personal and professional identities. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between nurse executives' perceived personal and organizational value congruence and their leadership behaviors (i.e., transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire). Four hundred and eleven nurse executives employed by American Hospital Association hospitals located east of the Mississippi participated in the study. Findings provide insight into the values held by nurse executives, personal and organizational value congruence and conflict perceived by nurse executives, and the leadership behaviors used by nurse executives. For example, the findings indicate there is a moderate degree of value congruence between nurse executives' personal and organizational values; however, the degree to which specific values are important is significantly different. Nurse executives report that they most often engage in transformational leadership behaviors, but there was no relationship between their leadership behavior and the degree of personal and organizational value congruence. Implications for nursing and nursing research are discussed.