Abstract

Background: Leadership in nursing has been widely discussed over time as a necessary professional competence and a field of action that should be exercised by these professionals. Aim: to analyze leadership styles and organizational outcome indicators from the point of view of the nursing staff of a public hospital in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.Methodological design: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out. The sample consisted of 83 nursing professionals, selected by non-probabilistic convenience sampling. Data collection was performed using the MLQ 5x, which was validated in content and construct.Results: 77.1 % of the respondents were women, with a mean age of 40 ± 9.44; and 9.23 ± 7.25 years of work; 74.7 % performed a care function. Transformational (4.07 ± 0.55) and transactional (3.99 ± 0.62) leadership styles have similar averages. According to the relationship between sociodemographic variables and leadership styles and their dimensions, no significant differences were found between men and women. In relation to organizational outcome variables, it is evident that extra effort is often more present in women, however, no significant differences were found between both groups.Conclusions: Leadership in nursing is considered essential. This, according to the results, is exercised by the nursing staff within their work team, regardless of age, years of work, type of organization, area of work or function performed.