The relationship among leadership preferences, head nurse leader style, and job satisfaction of staff nurses.

A better understanding of the effects of the relationships between staff nurses and their leaders is needed if retention of vital resources is to occur in this age of increasing need and decreasing resources in the health care industry. This study investigated the interactions among leadership preferences of staff nurses, the perceived leader behavior of their nurse managers, and their job satisfaction. Although a "match" or "mismatch" relationship was not found, one surprising finding was the high positive relationship between structuring behavior of head nurses and job satisfaction of staff nurses. Implications and recommendations for training nurse managers are offered.