Causal Relationship Model of Transformational Leadership, Learning Organization and Quality of Work Life Influencing Patient Unit Performance in General Hospitals under the Ministry of Public Health

Abstract

The purposes of this correlational research were to identify and test a causal relationship model of transformational leadership learning organization, quality of work life and patient unit performance. The multi-stage sampling technique was used to include 386 nurses at eighty-three general hospitals under the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. They were asked to answer five sets of questionnaires: 1) Personal Data Form,  2) Transformational Leadership Questionnaire, 3) Learning Organization Questionnaire, 4) Quality of Work Life Questionnaire, and 5) Patient Unit Performance Questionnaire. The reliability of each questionnaire had a Cronbach’s alpha Coefficient of .98, .98, .97 and .91, respectively. Data were analyzed using the statistical data analysis program for Structural Equation Modeling: SEM.

            The findings of this study revealed patient unit performance was at the high level (=3.61, SD=.41). Transformational leadership of head nurse had positive direct effects on learning organization and quality of work life (ß=.59, ß=.55 p<.001), respectively. Transformational leadership of the head nurse also had an indirect effect on patient unit performance through learning organization (ß=.09, p<.001), it also had an indirect effect on patient unit performance through quality of work life (ß=.35, p<.001). Learning organization had positive direct effects on patient unit performance (ß=.16, p<.001), and quality of work life had positive direct effects on patient unit performance (ß=.64, p<.001). The model accounted for 59 % of the variance in Patient Unit Performance and a substantial proportion of the variance of the mediating variables.