Temporary Agency Nurses’ Perception of Leadership and Employeeship : A qualitative study of working environment in Swedish client organizations

Abstract: Introduction: Temporary working agencies (TWAs) within the healthcare industry has exploded within the last 10 years. The temporary agency workers (TAWs) have a unique triangular employment agreement, resulting in leadership and employesship complexities. Leadership and employeeship has been linked to many aspects within an organization such as employee’s health and well-being, productivity, effectiveness, and satisfaction. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore and describe the perceptions of desirable leadership, and employeeship in a client organization for temporary agency nurses. Method: The study is qualitative and uses the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) method and follows the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR). Results: The TAW nurses desire a manager that is sincere and involved, and a manager as a guide when it comes to leadership and a desire to work independently, collaborate and respect each other and for there to be humor when it comes to employeeship in client organizations. Conclusion: Desirable leadership and employeeship that the TAW nurses desire is foremost linked to relations-oriented leadership behavior according to the Task, Change and Relations (TRC) model for leadership. The TAWs have a unique triangular employment, that result in complexities.