The relationship between the conflict management strategies and ethical leadership behaviours of nurse managers perceived by nurses

Aim: The aims of this study were to determine nurse managers' level of ethical leadership perceived by nurses and to examine its relationship with conflict management strategies. Background: Ethical leadership is about how managers use their power in their decisions and actions, and its source is based on moral and ethical authority. Therefore, it is important to understand the impact of ethical behaviours of nurse managers in the work environment on determining conflict management strategies. Method: The data of this descriptive, correlational, and cross-sectional study were collected face-to-face from 285 nurses between April–June 2019. The data collection instruments included the introductory information form, the Ethical Leadership Scale, and The Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory-II. Results: Ethical leadership scores perceived by nurses in nurse managers were found 3.78, and the highest score was obtained from the behavioural ethics subscale (3.81 ±.91). In conflict management strategies perceived by nurses, it was determined that they got highest scores from collaborating style (3.76 ±.90) and lowest scores from competing style (2.90 ±.94). There was no significant relationship only between ethical leadership and its subscales and competing (r: −.038/−.041, p >.05). In other subscales, there were positive, moderate, and highly significant relationships (r:.466–.747, p <.001). The rate of explanatoriness of communicative ethics subscale in conflict management strategies ranged from 22.3% to 58.0%. Conclusions: The study shows that communicative ethics subscale significantly affects the conflict management strategies of nurse managers. Therefore, it is important for nurse managers to communicate bilaterally and be a role model for nurses. Implications for Nursing Management: Ethical leaders value trust and respect in their interactions with employees and reflect what appropriate behaviour to the situation is. Nurses who perceive that their managers demonstrate ethical leadership behaviours will also evaluate their role in conflict resolution. On the other hand, the power-based, aggressive, noncompromising domination approach that the person imposes on others is not associated with the ethical leadership perception towards their managers by nurses and is a strategy that should not be preferred. Therefore, nurse managers who use appropriate conflict management strategies were seen as a role model by nurses. © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd