title: Situational and dispositional influences on nurses' workplace well-being: the role of empowering unit leadership.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Unit-level leadership and structural empowerment play key roles in creating healthy work environments, yet few researchers have examined these contextual effects on nurses' well-being.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to test a multilevel model of structural empowerment examining the effect of nursing unit leadership quality and structural empowerment on nurses' experiences of burnout and job satisfaction and to examine the effect of a personal dispositional variable, core self-evaluation, on these nurse experiences.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nurses (n = 3,156) from 217 hospital units returned surveys that included measures of leader-member exchange, structural empowerment, burnout, core self-evaluation, and job satisfaction. Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to test the model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nurses' shared perceptions of leader-member exchange quality on their units positively influenced their shared perceptions of unit structural empowerment (Level 2), which resulted in significantly higher levels of individual nurse job satisfaction (Level 1). Unit-level leader-member exchange quality also directly influenced individual nurse job satisfaction. Unit leader-member exchange quality and structural empowerment influenced emotional exhaustion and cynicism differentially. Higher unit-level leader-member exchange quality was associated with lower cynicism; higher unit-level structural empowerment was associated with lower emotional exhaustion. At Level 1, higher core self-evaluation was associated with lower levels of both emotional exhaustion and cynicism, both of which were associated with lower job satisfaction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides a theoretical understanding of how unit leadership affects both unit- and individual-level outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Nursing,University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, Ontario, Canada, Canada. hkl@uwo.ca; alaw1@uwo.ca
authors.forename: Heather K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Spence Laschinger
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Finegan
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wilk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006272:Health Facility Environment / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D055361:Multilevel Analysis; D009718:Nurse Administrators / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology; D016272:Occupational Health; D009864:Ontario; D015279:Organizational Culture; D011209:Power, Psychological; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012944:Social Support; D017132:Workplace / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology