Nurse Middle Managers' Dispositions of Habitus A Bourdieusian Analysis of Supporting Role Behaviors in Dutch and American Hospitals

A Magnet-related program has been recently adopted in the Netherlands. Support for staff nurses from nurse middle managers (NMMs) is a key component of such a program. A Bourdieusian ethnographic organizational case study in 4 hospitals in the Netherlands and the United States (Magnet, Magnet-related, and non-Magnet) was conducted to explore NMMs' supporting role behavior. Bourdieus concepts of habitus, field, and capital guided the analysis. Eight dispositions constitute NMMs habitus. A caring, clinical, and scientific disposition enhances NMMs' capital in particular organizations-as-fields. Further research is necessary to link Magnet (-related) program characteristics to various configurations of dispositions of NMMs habitus.