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. 2025 Jul 4;24(1):842.
doi: 10.1186/s12912-025-03518-7.

The relationship between transformational leadership, work motivation, and engagement among nurses in Jordanian governmental hospitals

Roa'a Abu-Qutaish  1 , Mohammad R Alosta  1 , Ghada Abu-Shosha  1 , Islam Ali Oweidat  1 , Abdulqadir J Nashwan  2   3
Affiliations

The relationship between transformational leadership, work motivation, and engagement among nurses in Jordanian governmental hospitals

Roa'a Abu-Qutaish et al. BMC Nurs. .

Abstract

Introduction: The healthcare sector faces persistent challenges related to workforce management, including maintaining high levels of motivation and engagement among nurses. Transformational leadership is one of the primary leadership styles that has emerged as a key factor affecting nurses' motivation and work engagement. However, there is a lack of evidence on the relationship between these variables, particularly in Jordan.

Aim: The current study examines the relationship between transformational leadership, work motivation, and work engagement among nurses working in governmental hospitals in Jordan.

Method: To answer the research questions, a descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational design was used. A convenience sampling technique was used to recruit nurses from three governmental hospitals. The Transformational Leadership scale, the motivation at work scale, and the work engagement scale were used to measure the study's main variables.

Result: A total of 125 nurses participated in the study. The study results showed that nurses exhibit moderate transformational leadership levels 36.80 ± 15.84, moderate motivation levels 51.57 ± 16.75, and moderate to high engagement levels 80 ± 22.65. The results also showed that there was a significant positive correlation between transformational leadership and work motivation (r = .49, p < .001) and between transformational leadership and work engagement (r = .41, p < .001). The study's findings also indicated that a transformational leadership style, years of experience, and working hours per week significantly predicted nurses' work motivation and engagement. Transformational leadership was positively associated, while years of experience and working hours were negatively associated with both outcomes. The models explained 31.1% of the variance in motivation and 34.2% of the variance in engagement (p < .001).

Conclusion and implications: Transformational leaders foster a supportive and inspiring work environment that can significantly boost nurse motivation and engagement. This can improve healthcare quality and address nursing workforce challenges such as high turnover and staff shortages. The results suggest that healthcare administrators and policymakers should prioritize developing and implementing transformational leadership training programs for all nurse leaders as a strategic approach to enhance nurses' motivation and engagement.

Clinical trial number: Not applicable.

Keywords: Jordan; Nurses; Transformational leadership; Work engagement; Work motivation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: This study was conducted following the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. The research protocol has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the Zarqa University (12/2023). All participants provided informed consent, having read and signed a statement that explained the study’s purpose, assured confidentiality and anonymity, and outlined their right to withdraw from the study at any time. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

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