Collegian (2008) 15, 27—33 available at www.sciencedirect.com Servant Leadership in Nursing: A framework for developing sustainable research capacity in nursing Debra Jackson, RN PhD * School of Nursing, College of Health and Science, University of Western Sydney, Australia Accepted 4 October 2007 KEYWORDS Servant leadership; Research capacity; Research student supervision; Resilience; Research community Summary In the current professional climate, research activities are highly valued with nurses in all sectors actively encouraged to participate. However, working environments for many nurses are such that it can be difficult to privilege research activities in any sustained way. A number of organisational challenges coalesce to impede participation in research activ- ities, including limited resources, lack of skills, knowledge and opportunities, and a culture of individualism. Strong, effective research leadership is essential to help mediate some of these negative aspects of organisational life, and promote creative environments to facilitate the development of research capacity. Servant leadership is a service-oriented approach that focuses on valuing and developing people, and offers a participatory and collaborative frame- work within which to build creative and productive research communities. Such communities can encourage connectedness between people, deepen the capacity for supportive collegiality, and foster a holistic social learning milieu to support researchers of all levels, including early career researchers and research higher degree candidates. © 2007 Royal College of Nursing, Australia. Published by Elsevier Australia (a division of Reed International Books Australia Pty Ltd). All rights reserved. Introduction In the decades since the transfer of nurse education to the university sector, Australian nurses have had a num- ber of important successes. The most notable of these include developing a full range of academic programs at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, generating robust academic and scholarly discourses around nursing, and more firmly establishing nursing as a research based discipline. Yet despite these considerable achievements, nursing faces * Tel.: +61 2 46203532; fax: +61 2 46203161. E-mail address: debra.jackson@uws.edu.au. on-going challenges in continuing to develop research capac- ity. These challenges include resource issues such as a lack of investment in, and infrastructure to support nurs- ing research, and lack of a critical mass of people who are adequately prepared to take up full time research careers (McCance, Fitzsimmons, Keeney, Hasson, & McKenna, 2007; Pearson, 2004). The cultural life of large organisations presents addi- tional challenges. Many are strongly hierarchical in nature, characterized by transactional leadership models, and imbued with highly bureaucratic and controlling cultures (Schwartz & Tumblin, 2002). In clinical and educational organisations, the unremitting demands of heavy clinical and teaching responsibilities can be overwhelming, leaving lit- tle time and energy for involvement in research activities. In 1322-7696/$ — see front matter © 2007 Royal College of Nursing, Australia. Published by Elsevier Australia (a division of Reed International Books Australia Pty Ltd). All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.colegn.2007.10.001