Assessing the Leadership Orientation of Afghan American Registered Nurses based on Acculturation Factors

The impact of acculturation on leadership style is an important topic for the global community. A quantitative, non-experimental, descriptive-correlational design using primary retrospective data was employed in this study. The objective of the study was to see if gender, education, income, primary language spoken at home, level of Afghan acculturation, and level of American acculturation predict task- and relationship-oriented leadership styles. Respondents were Afghan American adults currently working in the U.S. Health System as registered nurses with one or both parents originally from Afghanistan, N = 171 participants. The results showed that levels of task-oriented leadership correspond to the span of control (number of subordinates overseen) directly. The more subordinates, the greater the tendencies toward task-oriented leadership. The fewer subordinates, the lower the tendencies toward task-oriented leadership. None of the other variables contributed significantly to predicting task-oriented leadership. Due to the constant changing nursing field, diverse workforce, and high demand for healthcare administrators, nursing curriculum should emphasize the importance of leadership skills. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.