Influence of nurses’ organizational citizenship behaviors and empowerment on the quality of care: A literature review

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to describe known factors contributing to a positive and functional environment among nurses, with special focus on its relation to the quality of care. A key goal was to explain the link between empowerment and organizational citizen-ship behaviors in relation to improved care outcomes. The aim of the thesis was to differentiate the responsibilities associated to the nurses and their managers for the creation and upholding of a healthy working climate that supports high quality results.

Ten research articles from scientific journals were examined to complete the literature re-view. These articles were found through the databases Academic Search Elite, CINAHL, Ovid, Science Direct, and Sage Premier. The data has been analyzed using a narrative approach, because this technique is the most efficient when exploring diverse research information. The review has demonstrated that relational leadership styles have a positive connection to structural empowerment and subsequently to psychological empowerment, what generates constructive extra-role behaviors and ultimately improves the quality of care provided. While task-oriented leaders may hinder both structural and psychological empowerment elements, resorting negatively on nurses’ discretional behaviors and producing poor quality outcomes. Nurse managers are the main responsible of creating a supportive climate that facilitates team collaboration, evidence-based implementations, and improved patient outcomes. Thus, nurses respond to empowerment strategies with commitment, autonomous criteria, organizational citizenship behaviors, and high-quality care.

The conclusions of this study are useful to construct a functional and sustainable care team. Likewise, the review findings can be adopted to formulate guidelines on how to correct dysfunctional or low-quality healthcare environments and to increase job satisfaction, nurse retention, and client attraction levels.