Retention of staff nurses in a rural hospital setting in the eastern part of North Carolina: The impact of leadership style

Scholars have been studying the nature of voluntary turnover for years. It was the goal of this study to focus on the intention to leave as opposed to turnover. In doing so, it offers management the opportunity to pursue changes to reduce the costs of losing valuable personnel before incurring the turnover. This study includes a quantitative method of gaining information from nurses in the rural hospital setting in order to better understand how nursing leadership affects their desire to stay with an organization. The findings in this study show some of the elements that these nurses find important to their decision to stay with their current employer. With the understanding of the relationship to the variables in their organization, management can pursue and make the necessary changes in order to minimize the loss and maximize the effectiveness of the organization. Losing good employees hinders the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization.