Nurse Managers' Perceived Sources of Power: A Scale Development Study

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: This study was carried to develop a measurement tool to determine nurse managers' perceived sources of power. METHODS: A 5-point Likert-type draft scale consisting of 68 items and 5 sub-dimensions (charismatic, coercive, reward, legitimate and expert power) developed by the researcher in line with the literature was used to collect the study data. The draft scale was submitted to experts for evaluation, and after their evaluation, the 42-item draft scale was used as a data collection tool. The draft scale was administered to 546 volunteer nurses working at a university hospital and three hospitals affiliated to the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health in Kocaeli, a province located at the easternmost end of the Marmara Sea. The data were analyzed with the SPSS 21 and Lisrel 8.51 package programs. RESULTS: The five-factor structure of the scale was confirmed with the confirmatory factor analysis performed in line with the validity and reliability studies. Based on the results of the analysis, the Nurse Managers' Perceived Power Scale consisted of 5 subscales (charismatic, coercive, reward, legitimate and expert power) and 35 items. The Content Validity Index of the scale items ranged between 0.88 and 1.00, factor loads ranged between 0.31 and 0.88, item-total correlations ranged between 0.32 and 0.83, and Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficients of the subscales ranged between 0.77 and 0.93. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: As a result of the validity and reliability analysis of the Nurse Managers' Perceived Power Scale, it was determined that it could be used as a valid and reliable scale in the nurse population.

Keywords

• nurse manager
• power
• sources of power
• scale development
• validity
• reliability