Influence of ethical leadership of nursing unit managers on job embeddedness of staff nurses: Focusing on mediating effect of trust in supervisor

Purpose: This study was done to investigate the mediating effect of trust in supervisor in the relationship between ethical leadership of nursing unit managers and job embeddedness of staff nurses. Methods: Participants were 216 staff nurses from one tertiary general hospital and three general hospitals. Data were collected from June to August, 2018, using self-report questionnaires. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, Mann-whitney U test, One-way ANOVA, Kruskal-wallis, Welch test, Scheffé test, Games-Howell, Pearson correlation coefficients and multiple regression, with the SPSS/WIN 23.0 program. A mediation analysis was performed according to the Baron and Kenny method and Sobel test. Results: There were significant relationships between ethical leadership and trust in supervisor (r=.85, p<.001), ethical leadership and job embeddedness (r=.38, p<.001), and trust in supervisor and job embeddedness (r=.41, p<.001). Trust in supervisor showed full-mediating effects in the relationship between ethical leadership and job embeddedness. Conclusion: The results of this research show the importance of the role of trust in the supervisor as a full mediating variable. To increase the nurses' job embeddedness, it is necessary to develop programs and strategies to enhance trust in supervisors, as well as training nursing unit managers to provide ethical leadership.