Abstract
Background and Aims:
In healthcare, effective patient management relies on leadership skills of nurse managers, which is accomplished by the use of transformational, transactional or laissez-faire leadership styles. The aim of the present study was to explore the perception of the nurses’ about the leadership style of their nurse managers, in Saudi Arabia.

Methods:
This cross-sectional study utilized a study instrument comprising questions for demographic factors and 21-item-questionnaire to evaluate nurses’ perception of leadership styles of nurse managers. Study participants were recruited based on a convenience random sampling methodology, from a total population of 1500 nurses, until the estimated sample size (300-315 participants) was achieved. Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA to evaluate association between different demographic factors and nurses’ perception about leadership styles were evaluated.

Results:
A total of 312 participants responded, out of which 12 responses were eliminated due to incompleteness of data. Out of the final study sample (N = 300), 79.3% were women, majority were between 31-40 years (48.7%). Most nurses had a bachelor’s degree (76.3%), were married (60.7%) and received salary between 5000-10000 Saudi Riyals. The predominantly perceived leadership style utilization among nurse managers was found to be transformational (64.04%) followed by transactional (63.83%) and laissez-faire (62.08%). Within transformational leadership, nurses’ perceived “idealized influence” as the most commonly used style by nurse managers. One-way ANOVA for statistical association between demographic variables and nurses’ perception about leadership styles, revealed significant differences (p<0.05) only for age and marital status when comparing transformational and transactional leadership styles.

Conclusions:
Based on the present study, nurses perceived that their nurse leaders predominantly exhibited transformational leadership, followed by transactional leadership, and only minimally a laissez-faire leadership attribute. The current findings enable healthcare leaders, to learn how their staff nurses perceive their leadership styles and apply them for professional policymaking.

Key words: Nurses perceptions, Nurse Managers, Leadership styles, Healthcare leadership, Healthcare administration.