Perception of academic nursing staff toward shared governance

Abstract

Shared governance is the set of practices under which faculty members and other staff participates in the decision-making process concerning the operation of their institution and may interfere with the everyday work and activities. The perception of academic nursing staff toward “shared governance” was assessed in a nonexperimental survey research design. Using a nonprobability sampling method, all academic nursing staff had the opportunity to respond to the Collaborative Behavior Scale (CBS) at the pre-implementation of shared governance model. Four universities, including public and private universities were included in the study. Both surveys contained a short demographic section and the Collaborative Behavior Scale CBS adapted from Stickler 1991. Results showed a low level of perception which presented by the collaborative behaviors toward shared governance. Interestingly, commitment to shared governance was neither sufficient nor satisfied during this time. Long experiences with advanced ages for MSc and PhD holders' had significantly higher scores on perception than other groups. The results of the survey indicated that academic staff members recognized shared governance as a process, not a project, and that it takes time to share responsibility, accountability, and authority for faculty members. Overall, Jordanian academic nursing staff have not enough willingness nor commitment to shared governance principles.