Leadership Styles and Nurses' Innovative Behaviors

OBJECTIVE In an increasingly competitive healthcare climate, ensuring an innovative nursing workforce is essential for organizational success and survival. BACKGROUND The authors aimed to evaluate the literature examining the association between leadership styles and innovative behaviors in the nursing workforce. METHODS A systematic review of articles from 5 databases was conducted from August 2022 to October 2022. RESULTS A total of 21 articles published in the English language were included in the review. This study provides evidence for the vital role of “relationship-oriented” leadership styles in fostering innovative behaviors among nurses. However, more research is needed to examine how “task-oriented” leadership styles contribute to innovativeness in nurses. Twelve mediators linking leadership styles to healthcare workers' innovative behaviors were identified and clustered into motivation-based, relation-based, and affective mediators. CONCLUSION Organizational strategies to foster relationship-based leadership styles among healthcare leaders are vital to support nurses' innovative behaviors.