Other Titles
The Relationship Between Gratitude and Job Satisfaction in Nurse Leaders [Title Slide]
Abstract
In the current healthcare climate, retaining our workforce has become increasingly important. Even more so the retention of nursing leadership has become even more crucial, as the need to have nurse leaders guide the profession during tenuous and difficult times is now even more apparent. Looking at ways hospital organizations can potentially increase their retention of leaders, which would assist in the retention of their staff, would be instrumental in easing labor shortage and therefore improve the quality of care. There has been a great deal of research that has shown that gratitude plays a significant role in a person’s attitude, such as job satisfaction. These studies have included all disciplines and industries, including healthcare, but few focused on nurse leaders. The purpose of this study is to see if there is a significant relationship between gratitude and job satisfaction in nursing leadership. This presentation will also address what organizations can do to support this practice and the effect on its work environment. A descriptive correlational design was used. Eighty-nine nurse leaders completed a survey using the Gratitude Survey and the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire. A statistically significant relationship was measured between gratitude and job satisfaction (r = .368, p = .000). There was no correlation between the length of years in leadership and gratitude or leadership and job satisfaction.
Despite these significant results between gratitude and satisfaction, there are other opportunities for measurement of the known and unknown factors influencing the results. Possibilities of expanding the measurement to other characteristics that could be used to predict the outcomes or investigating other influences that could be used to increase the outcomes. Potentially important information for healthcare organizations who desire to retain their nursing leaders and improve overall job satisfaction of nurse leaders may be gleaned from a study of nurse leaders and measuring the association between their perceived gratitude and their job satisfaction utilizing a validated tool.
Notes
Presenter notes available in attached slide deck.
Reference list included in attached slide deck.
Sigma Membership
Alpha Mu
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Other
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Emotions -- Evaluation, Job Satisfaction, Nursing Practice, Leadership, Nursing Leaders, Gratitude
Recommended Citation
Aiken, Tammy P., "Relationship Between Gratitude and Job Satisfaction in Nursing Leadership" (2026). Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE). 131.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/chwe/2024/presentations_2024/131
Conference Name
Creating Healthy Work Environments
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Washington, DC, USA
Conference Year
2024
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2026-03-05
Relationship Between Gratitude and Job Satisfaction in Nursing Leadership
Washington, DC, USA
In the current healthcare climate, retaining our workforce has become increasingly important. Even more so the retention of nursing leadership has become even more crucial, as the need to have nurse leaders guide the profession during tenuous and difficult times is now even more apparent. Looking at ways hospital organizations can potentially increase their retention of leaders, which would assist in the retention of their staff, would be instrumental in easing labor shortage and therefore improve the quality of care. There has been a great deal of research that has shown that gratitude plays a significant role in a person’s attitude, such as job satisfaction. These studies have included all disciplines and industries, including healthcare, but few focused on nurse leaders. The purpose of this study is to see if there is a significant relationship between gratitude and job satisfaction in nursing leadership. This presentation will also address what organizations can do to support this practice and the effect on its work environment. A descriptive correlational design was used. Eighty-nine nurse leaders completed a survey using the Gratitude Survey and the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire. A statistically significant relationship was measured between gratitude and job satisfaction (r = .368, p = .000). There was no correlation between the length of years in leadership and gratitude or leadership and job satisfaction.
Despite these significant results between gratitude and satisfaction, there are other opportunities for measurement of the known and unknown factors influencing the results. Possibilities of expanding the measurement to other characteristics that could be used to predict the outcomes or investigating other influences that could be used to increase the outcomes. Potentially important information for healthcare organizations who desire to retain their nursing leaders and improve overall job satisfaction of nurse leaders may be gleaned from a study of nurse leaders and measuring the association between their perceived gratitude and their job satisfaction utilizing a validated tool.
Description
Retaining our healthcare workforce, including leadership, has become increasingly important to guide through these tenuous times. Previous research has supported that gratitude plays a significant role in job satisfaction. This study addresses the relationship between gratitude and job satisfaction in nurse leadership and what potential organizational significance it may have.