DIMENSIONS OF POWER: DEVELOPMENT OF AN INSTRUMENT FOR MEASUREMENT (NURSE ADMINISTRATORS).
Contributors: Indiana University School of Nursing.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 174
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Health Care Management.; Sociology, Industrial and Labor Relations.
Description: An instrument designed to measure social, organizational, and personal power of nurse administrators according to an original modification of Claus and Bailey's Power/Authority/Influence Model for Leadership (1977) was constructed and tested. Content validity, construct validity, and reliability were evaluated.

Content validity of a 75-item Likert-type tool was assessed by a panel of reviewers. Data analyses indicated that 11 items were acceptable and 64 required rewriting. A pilot study (n = 7) tested reliability and validity and identified procedural problems. Internal consistency reliability data for the power and job satisfaction scales were high. No significant relationships were found between the job satisfaction scale and the power scales. Considering the small sample size, all items were retained for the construct validity study.

The power instrument was completed by 193 nursing managers at general hospitals in Indiana and Illinois. Construct validity was tested by use of factor analysis and by evaluation of the relationships between the power scales and job satisfaction, one of the concepts in the Claus and Bailey (1977) model. Factor analysis was conducted with anticipation of the items clustering on the three power types. The findings indicated the likelihood that only two factors, as opposed to three, underlay the Claus and Bailey model. A second factor analysis resulted in 51 items (mostly social and personal) clustering on one factor and 18 (mostly organizational) on the second. Internal consistency reliabilities were high and construct validity was demonstrated. Findings in this study suggest reliability and validity of the revised power scales and provide support for a conceptual clarification of the Claus and Bailey model.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-09, Section: B, page: 4591.

Thesis (D.N.S.)--INDIANA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NURSING, 1992.

School code: 0815.