Perceived importance of competencies by nurse managers at all levels: A cross-sectional study

Aim: To explore nurse managers' perceived importance of competencies for their current job at different levels and the associated factors.

Background: Little work to date has explored the perceived importance of competencies in nursing leadership and management or considered the related factors in the Taiwan healthcare context.

Methods: Data collected from a previous large study comprising a cross-sectional web-based survey were analysed. Kruskal-Wallis test, two-sided Fisher exact test and multiple linear regression models were used for statistics analysis.

Results: The mix of three skills in Katz's model indicated that human skills were equally important in all three managerial levels. Of the 23 competencies, effective communication and political astuteness were rated by nurse managers at all levels as the highest-scored (M = 4.88, SD = 0.34) and lowest-scored competency (M = 3.92, SD = 0.78), respectively. Managerial level was a significant predictor of the perceived importance of competency.

Conclusions: Relationship-based competencies were prominent in the perceived importance of competencies among nurse managers at different levels. Managerial hierarchy influences the relative importance of the different managerial competencies.

Implications for nursing management: This study's results provide the talent strategy framework required for improving the competencies of nurse managers at all levels.