The association of perceived leadership style and subjective well-being of employees in a tertiary hospital in Germany

Abstract

Background Professionals in the healthcare sector are a particularly vulnerable group for occupational strain due to high work-related psychological stress. For the implementation of targeted stress-prevention interventions as an important part of a workplace health management programme for all occupational groups and hierarchy levels, information about the current state of their mental health is mandatory. Hence, this study investigated the association of general well-being and different leadership styles among employees in a German tertiary hospital. Methods Via an online survey, 10,101 employees were contacted. The final sample consisted of 1137 employees. Of these, 27.7% described themselves as leaders and 72.3% as followers. Most participants were female (74.8%), more than half were under 41 years old. Besides control variables, general well-being (WHO-5) and leadership style (transactional and transformational, laissez-faire and destructive leadership) were assessed. Results Leaders reported higher well-being scores than followers. Physicians without leadership responsibilities had the lowest scores for well-being. Practitioners of both transformational and transactional leadership were associated with higher well-being scores, while those practicing laissez-faire and destructive leadership had lower scores for almost every professional group. Conclusion Results highlight the necessity for future multimodal health-preventive leadership interventions feature behavioural and organizational intervention modules specifically tailored to hospital professionals at different hierarchical and functional levels to foster the mental health of employees.

Improving Well-Being and Fostering Health-Oriented Leadership among Leaders in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs): A Systematic Review

“…They can manifest in a positive sense, for example, through the experience of recognition, the opportunity to be creative and productive or through personal development. Psychosocial stress can also manifest in a negative sense, for example, when work stress arises from potential stressors such as qualitative and quantitative demands, negative leadership behaviour and the experience of injustice [8].…”

“…Health-oriented leadership styles are known to yield positive outcomes for both leaders and followers (for an overview, see [8]). Thus, future research on the wellbeing of SME leaders should focus more specifically on health-oriented leadership regarding outcomes and intervention content.…”

Managers perception of hospital employees’ effort-reward imbalance

“…In order to improve health and well-being at the workplace, managers have an important role, especially in terms of managing and shaping working conditions or improving job satisfaction [ 22 – 26 ]. For example, perceived transformational leadership style was positively associated with well-being of certain groups of health-care professionals in a hospital [ 27 ]. A systematic review on nurse leadership style and nurse satisfaction showed, that nurses reported higher job satisfaction when they worked with relational leaders than with task-oriented leaders [ 28 ].…”

The Effect of Leadership Style on Firefighters Well-Being during an Emergency

“…Furthermore, Desmond [18] underlines the importance of leadership to promote well-being and states that an ethic of individualism can lead to a devaluation of leadership, making it less relevant, which consequently worsens wellbeing. Considering leadership style, some studies have shown that a style oriented toward people considerations and development promotes the well-being of the followers [19,20] and the adaptation of the team to wind changes in a firefighting situation [21]. In fact, firefighters value leaders who provide support, create mutually respectful environments, and possess the humility to admit mistakes, accepting failure within themselves and others [22], characteristics of empowering leadership.…”