This research examined the relationship between leadership behavior attitudes of deans of baccalaureate nursing schools and selected variables representing leader, follower, organizational, and environmental clusters. Survey methodology was used for data collection. The random sample (N = 250), determined by power analysis, was taken from the population of deans of NLN accredited US baccalaureate nursing schools (N = 418), A 94% response rate with 91.2% useable was obtained from the sample, with no statistically significant (p < .05) difference between either the respondents and non-respondents or the respondents and sample. The two instruments used for data collection were the Demograhic Characteristics Form developed and pre-tested by the researcher, and the Leadership Opinion Questionnaire, standardized with positive psychometrics on similar populations for comparison norms. A small pilot-study supported adoption of the LOQ to the subjects.

Data analysis for multivariate application indicated a need for variable transformation and elimination. Following appropriate procedures, standard multiple regression with SPSS and BMDP programs revealed that none of the variables were statistically significant (p < .05); a modified second phase with step-wise regression revealed that two variables were: number of hours worked by dean and number of administrative subordinants. Although the total amount of explained variance was modest, analysis of the four variable clusters revealed that the organizational explained the greatest proportion of the variance for the Structure (63%) and Consideration (58%) scales of the LOQ. Cross-validation of the data and an Alpha correlation for internal consistency reliability were not conducted because of the data-set size and nature of the population respectively. Based on the findings of this study the four null hypotheses failed to be rejected. The conclusion that the variables of this study did not further the explanation of leadership behavior attitudes of baccalaureate nursing deans was tempered by the constricted and low scores of the LOQ, which may have posed limits for the regression analysis. These LOQ findings led, nevertheless, to the conclusion that deans have moderately low leadership behavior attitudes as measured on this instrument. Interpretations of the LOQ scores and inferences were discussed for the deans of baccalaureate nusing programs, and included suggestions for future research on nursing leadership.