Examination of the effect of leadership styles on job satisfaction in nurses by meta-analysis method

Objective: This study was conducted to examine the effect of leadership on nurses' job satisfaction by meta-analysis method. Method: The meta-analysis method was used in the study. The literature search was performed in Pubmed, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, Springer Link, EBSCOhost CINAHL Complete, and Cochrane databases without time limitation. In accordance with the inclusion criteria, 45 different studies between 1993 and 2022 were included in the study. The Quality Assessment and Validity Tool for Correlational Studies was used for the quality assessment of the studies, and Jamovi (Version 2.3.26.2021)-MAJOR-Meta-Analysis statistical program was used for data analysis. Results: In 45 studies that met the inclusion criteria, English articles with a total sample size of 36842 nurses were included in the study. As a result of the meta-analysis, it was found that leadership had a significant effect of ES=0.367 (z =10,8817; p<0,0001) on job satisfaction in nurses. The effect sizes in moderator variable analyses were ES=-0.0144 (p=0,115; p>0,05) for leadership styles, ES=0.0088 (p=0,246; p>0,05) for country variable and ES=0.00392 (p=0,251, p>0,05) for year of data collection variable. Conclusion: It was found that leadership had a moderate effect on job satisfaction in nurses. According to the moderator variables (leadership style, the country where the studies were conducted and the year the data were collected), there was no significant difference between the effect sizes of the studies related to leadership and job satisfaction in nursing (p>0.05). In this context, it can be suggested that meta-analyses of different leadership styles that emerge in the future should be conducted to reveal the effective approaches and meta-analysis studies of leadership styles and job satisfaction should be examined with variables on various key issues (e.g., work-related stress, turnover, organizational commitment, employee performance); nurse managers should review and, if necessary, improve their leadership styles and be role models. Keywords: leadership, leadership styles, nurse, job satisfaction, meta-analysis.