Measuring the leadership styles and scholarly productivity of nursing department chairpersons

Self-perceived leadership styles of nursing department chairpersons were correlated with their scholarly productivity. The sample consisted of the 106 nursing department chairpersons from National League for Nursing (NLN)-accredited baccalaureate and higher-degree programs in 10 midwestern states. Mersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership Model was used as the conceptual framework. Their LEAD-Self instrument was used to measure leadership styles, range, and adaptability. In addition, the Scholarly Productivity Index (SPI) was used to measure the nursing chairpersons' involvement in prepublication and research, publication, editorial, and other scholarly activities. College size and status (public or private) were among the variables examined to assess a relationship or group differences. A majority of nursing department chairpersons viewed themselves as having a "participating" leadership style. Most of the remaining chairpersons viewed themselves as having a "selling" leadership style. Study participants viewed their backup leadership styles to be in a reverse order from their primary leadership styles with the "selling" leadership style the most frequently used backup style and "participating" the second most frequently used style. Chairpersons from public nursing schools reported significantly greater numbers of scholarly activities than did chairpersons from private nursing schools. Chairpersons who had held their positions for less than 5 years tended to have a "participating" leadership style. A majority of nursing department chairpersons in the study reported that they felt institutional pressure to engage in scholarly activities.