Measuring managerial motivation: the Power Management Inventory

Psychometric properties for Part I of the Power Management Inventory (Hawker & Hall, 1981) are presented following validation of the instrument with samples of nurse managers (N = 54) and executives (N = 92). The content validity indices were .85 for management issues (item stems), .65 for Personalized Power (PP), .75 for Socialized Power (SP), and .70 for Affiliative Motive (AM) scales. Internal consistency reliabilities were acceptable (.63 to .87). Test-Retest correlations (n = 19 managers) ranged from .74 to .85. Correlation of nurse manager (n = 50) scores with subordinate scores of managers were significant (p < .05) for PP (r = .32) and AM (r = .29). Correlation of nurse executive (n = 59) scores with chief executive officer scores of executives were significant for PP (r = .32, p < .01) and AM (r = .25, p < .05). Mean scores of PP, SP and AM failed to profile the motive pattern for "successful" managers. About 29% of the managers and 39% of the executives were categorized as having no power motive preference. Use of the PMI for career counseling/decisions in nursing is not recommended, however, its use as an organizational development tool is endorsed.