Associations between perceived overqualification, transformational leadership and burnout in nurses from intensive care units : A multicentre survey

Aims
To explore whether perceived overqualification increases the risk of burnout and whether transformational leadership negatively moderates this relationship.

Background
Perceived overqualification might contribute to burnout and lead to poor experience of transformational leadership, and transformational leadership might be associated with burnout. However, these relationships have not yet been confirmed.

Methods
A multicentre cross-sectional study. A total of 321 nurses from intensive care units were recruited from six tertiary hospitals. Scale of Perceived OverQualification, Transformational Leadership Questionnaire and emotional exhaustion subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory—General Survey were employed to collect the data. Hierarchical multiple regression and bootstrap resampling were applied to analyse the data.

Results
Burnout was positively associated with perceived overqualification and negatively associated with transformational leadership (each p < 0.05). Transformational leadership significantly mediated the relationship between perceived overqualification and burnout (b = −0.6389, 95% confidence interval: −0.8706, −0.4072).

Conclusion
Our findings indicated that perceived overqualification and transformational leadership directly or indirectly affect burnout among nurses from intensive care units.

Implications for Nursing Managers
Personal and organizational-oriented interventions utilizing nurses' overall qualifications and implementing transformational leadership should be employed by nurse managers to alleviate burnout and promote the work performance of nurses from intensive care units.