Leadership styles of Finnish nurse managers and factors influencing it.

Aim: The purpose of the present study was to explore nurse managers' perceptions of their leadership styles and factors influencing it.

Background: It is a challenge for nurse managers to retain nurses in hospitals and to ensure a high quality of care in nursing practice. Leadership style is an important part of leadership. Knowledge concerning nurse managers' resonant and non-resonant leadership styles provides nurse managers with tools to reflect on their own leadership style.

Method: Open-ended, tape-recorded interviews were conducted with 13 nurse managers from five Finnish hospitals and two long-term care facilities. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Results: Five categories of leadership style were discerned: visionary, coaching, affiliate, democratic, commanding. Factors that influence leadership style were identified: earlier superiors, values, information, cooperation, employees and education.

Conclusions: The results of this study show that Finnish nurse managers use both resonant and non-resonant leadership styles.

Implications For Nursing Management: The findings of this study show that nurse managers use a variety of leadership styles. The study demonstrates the importance of knowledge about leadership styles and factors influencing it among nurse managers providing future leadership and management education.