Servant leadership and clinical nurses’ work engagement: The mediating role of emotional support and frustration

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the influence of emotional support and frustration on the relationship between servant leadership and clinical nurses’ work engagement. The survey sample consists of 1 127 clinical nurses from six hospitals in China (female = 1 081; average age = 32. 78 years, SD = 6. 40 years). The results indicate that servant leadership can predict higher clinical nurses’ work engagement. Furthermore, emotional support and frustration mediated the relationship between servant leadership and clinical nurses’ work engagement. Additionally, frustration mediated the relationship between emotional support and clinical nurses’ work engagement. The research results provide evidence on the internal mechanism of the impact of servant leadership and clinical nurses’ work engagement.