Associations between ethical leadership, organizational communication climate, and organizational commitment among nurses: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background & Aim: Ethical leadership and organizational communication climate are important factors associated with nurses’ organizational commitment and overall organizational performance in healthcare settings. This study aimed to examine the associations between nurses’ perceptions of ethical leadership, organizational communication climate, and organizational commitment.
Methods & Materials: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 265 nurses working at Ödemiş State Hospital in İzmir, Türkiye. Data were collected using a Sociodemographic Characteristics Form, the Ethical Leadership Scale, the Organizational Communication Climate Scale, and the Organizational Commitment Scale. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 26.
Results: The mean scores were 32.9±8.7 for ethical leadership, 102.8±20.1 for organizational communication climate, and 61.7±10.3 for organizational commitment. Organizational commitment was positively correlated with ethical leadership (r=0.556, p<0.001) and organizational communication climate (r=0.617, p<0.001), and ethical leadership was strongly correlated with communication climate (r= .806, p< .001), supporting all three hypotheses. Both variables jointly explained 38.6% of the variance in organizational commitment (adjusted R² = .386, F (2, 262) = 83.92, p< .001). Communication climate had a stronger standardized coefficient (β = .48, p< .001) than ethical leadership (β = .17, p = .040) and more unique explained variance (ΔR² = .081 vs .010). Nurses with ≥10 years of institutional tenure reported higher communication climate scores than those with 7–9 years (Tukey HSD, p= .003).
Conclusion: Ethical leadership and organizational communication climate were significantly associated with nurses’ organizational commitment. When considered simultaneously, organizational communication climate showed a stronger association with organizational commitment than ethical leadership.