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.
