The influence of nurse managers’ authentic leadership style and work environment characteristics on job burnout among emergency nurses

Background: Emergency nurses experience excessive workloads and high job burnout. Limited evidence exists exploring the role of authentic leadership and nurse work environment on job burnout among emergency nurses. Objective: To assess the influence of nurse managers’ authentic leadership and nurse work environment on job burnout among emergency nurses. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 160 emergency nurses working in six hospitals in the Sultanate of Oman. The Maslach Burnout Inventory, Authentic Leadership Questionnaire, and the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index were used to assess study variables. Results: Of the 233 distributed surveys, 160 emergency nurses responded resulting in a response rate of 69%. More than two thirds of emergency nurses (72.1%) reported high levels of burnout. Authentic leadership and a favorable work environment were significantly associated with lower job burnout. Nurse managers’ transparency (β = - 0.481, p = 0.031), ethical/moral conduct (β = - .408, p = 0.043), managerial ability and support (β = - 0.497, p = 0.018), and adequate staffing and resources (β = -.068, p = 0.028) were all associated with lower job burnout. Conclusions: Results suggest the importance of providing effective leadership, adequate support to staff, maintaining optimum staffing and resources, and developing nurse managers' authentic leadership to reduce nurses’ job burnout.