The Lived Experience of Professional Generosity Among Nursing Faculty

The aim of this study was to understand the phenomenon of professional generosity through the lived experiences of academic nurse faculty.

There is a need to examine and understand the workplace environment for nurse faculty and their experiences with colleagues in the workplace.

Tenured faculty ( n = 8) were interviewed using van Manen's phenomenological methodological research structures to illuminate and understand their lived experience of professional generosity.

Four themes and 14 subthemes emerged from the data. The four themes were as follows: I feel valued, core relationships, reciprocity, and growing our professions through connectedness.

The findings identified professional generosity among academic nurse faculty and provide a beginning understanding how one's generous actions positively affect oneself, nurse faculty colleagues, and the profession of nursing. Professional generosity has overall potential to cultivate positive and healthy nursing academic and work environments.