| Summary: | <p>The following non-experimental quantitative study was conducted in the context of an acute care hospital, surveying almost 4,000 registered nurses across 14 hospitals. The study had two primary objectives: the first utilized a two-sample t-test to determine if there was a statistically significant difference in job satisfaction and years of professional experience for those identified as informal leaders and those not identified as informal leaders. In both cases the study found a statistically significant relationship. Second, the study performed regression analysis to assess the relationship between registered nurses that were as informal leaders and patient satisfaction. Additionally, the study further assessed the impact of leadership style of the informal leader, specifically studying the impact of transactional, transformational, and passive-avoidant leadership tendencies on patient satisfaction. In this case, the study was unable to identify a statistically significant relationship between informal leadership and patient satisfaction. Similarly, the study was unable to identify a statistically significant relationship between transactional, transformational, and passive-avoidant leadership tendencies of the informal leaders and patient satisfaction. The study found that informal leaders tend to have more experience and a higher job satisfaction than their peers who were not identified as informal leaders. While failing to demonstrate a relationship between informal leadership and patient satisfaction, the study opens the door for future studies that can further assess the impact of the informal leader as a means of accomplishing important organizational outcomes. </p><p> <i>Key words</i>: informal, emergent, leadership, transformational, transactional, passive-avoidant, nursing, patient satisfaction, outcome </p>
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