ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Organizational Psychology
Staff Nurses' Perceptions of Toxic Leadership Behaviours in Nurse Managers: A Latent Profile Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- The First People's Hospital of Zunyi, Zunyi, China
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Objectives To identify latent profiles and influencing factors of toxic leadership behaviours of nurse managers experienced by staff nurses. Design Cross-sectional study Setting A total of 12 public hospitals in Guiyang and Zunyi city, Guizhou Province, China. Methods From May 7, 2024 to December 31, 2024, a total of 900 nurses participated, and 868 valid questionnaires were collected with a validity rate of 96.44%. Data was collected via the Toxic Leadership Behaviours of Nurse Managers scale and a demographic questionnaire. Using latent profile analysis (LPA), distinct profiles of toxic leadership behaviours among nurse managers were identified. Univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the factors associated with the toxic leadership behaviour of nurse managers. Results The toxic leadership behaviours suffered by nurses were divided into four profiles: low toxic leadership behaviour group (55.07%), moderate toxic leadership behaviour group (16.71%), high toxic leadership behaviour group (13.36%), and high Intemperate behaviour group (14.86%). The results of multiple logistic regression analysis showed that nurses who are male, employed as non-permanent staff, or working in general hospitals are more susceptible to toxic leadership behaviours. Conclusions This study used latent rofile analysis to identify four distinct subgroups and found that male nurses, non-permanent staff, and nurses in general hospitals are more susceptible to toxic leadership behaviours. These results emphasize the need for developing strategies to address toxic leadership behaviors in order to promote nurses' well-being.
Keywords: Clinical nurse, Cross-sectional study, latent profile analysis, nurse managers, toxic leadership behaviours
Received: 10 Jul 2025; Accepted: 27 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Yan, Yan, Tan and Jiang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hu Jiang
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