Understanding Correlation between Christian and Non-Christian Servant Organizational Leadership and Pre-Licensure Baccalaureate Nursing Student Caring Dimensions

The purpose of this study was to understand if a relationship exists between Midwest baccalaureate Christian and Non-Christian nursing programs’ organizational servant leadership characteristics and pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing students’ caring dimensions. This study utilized a quantitative approach to a correlational design using survey methodology for data collection. The first sample consisted of four Christian pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing programs’ Faculty/Staff, Supervisors, and the nursing program’s Top Leadership, along with their pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing students. The second sample consisted of three Non-Christian pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing programs’ Faculty/Staff, Supervisor, and nursing program Top Leadership and their pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing students. Many nursing studies reveal a persistent culture of incivility that begins in academia and continues into the graduate nurse’s bedside practice, where nurses are known to “eat their young” (Palumbo, 2018, p. 144; Katz, 2014, p. 1-2). Incivility is a problem in nursing because a toxic environment can adversely affect patient care. This study sought to discern whether servant organizational leadership offered a means to resolve incivility in nursing by producing nursing students who care more. Therefore, this study measured whether servant organizational leadership theory explained the relationship between a Christian and Non-Christian servant leadership organization as measured by the servant Organizational Leadership Assessment - Standard Version (OLA-SV) instrument and the pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing student’s caring dimensions as measured by the Caring Dimensions Inventory - 25 (CDI-25) instrument.