Does shared and differentiated transformational leadership predict followers' working conditions and well-being?

Reviewing the influence of positive leadership on worker well-being: A comprehensive analysis

The study provides a review of existing empirical studies on the impact of positive leadership on worker well-being. The aim it to integrate current knowledge and provide directions for future research. The study analyses the content of 118 articles retrieved mainly from Google Scholar and Scopus database published between 2004 and 2022. Findings revealed that most of the studies are atheoretical with the dominant theory applied being conservation of resource theory. Furthermore, most of the studies were cross-sectionally designed, used convenient sampling and self-reported questionnaire. A conceptual framework is presented which synthesizes findings from prior works and shows the various dimensions of positive leadership practices and worker well-being. Additionally, a comprehensive future research agenda for theoretical and empirical advancement is suggested. The study offers a comprehensive framework that synthesizes and integrates the existing literature on positive leadership and worker well-being. The findings offer researchers in leadership a common platform for discourse.

How Emotional Contagion among Teachers Affects the Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Team Cohesion

Teachers and educators are experiencing turmoil under the drastic changes in educational practices caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to research, transformational leaders effectively facilitate organizational change by fostering teachers' sense of belonging and boosting social identity in their team members, which can result in better team well-being via higher team cohesion. Recently, research has increasingly explored the role of emotional contagion and its relationship with leadership. Accordingly, the current study aims to delve deeper into the role of emotional contagion in linking transformational leadership to cohesion among teachers in the school setting. To this purpose, 581 teachers from northern Italy filled out a self-report questionnaire (72.1% female, Mage = 47.06, and SDage = 11.42). A moderated mediation model was tested to assess the mediating role of organizational identification in the relationship between transformational leadership and team cohesion and how emotional contagion may moderate this association. The obtained results provided support to the hypothesized model. Overall, the present study corroborates the critical role of school principals' behavior in fostering greater organizational identification among teachers, which is associated with better team cohesion. This study constitutes an early attempt to gain more insight into the role of emotional variables in explaining the influence of leadership behavior.

Leadership and well-being of employees in the Nordic countries: A literature review

BACKGROUND: There is a need for more knowledge regarding the importance of managerial leadership for fostering well-being in the workplace and how context has been accounted for in previous research. OBJECTIVE: To carry out a literature review of previous research that empirically examines the importance of leadership for well-being in a Nordic working life context. METHODS: A rapid literature review was conducted with narrative analysis in 5 steps; establish focus, research questions, and inclusion criteria; literature search; relevance screening; quality assessment; data analysis. The search identified 4566 unique studies where 35 quantitative and five qualitative met the relevance and quality criteria. RESULTS: Findings from quantitative and qualitative studies are presented. Transformational and supportive leadership are recurrently associated with employee well-being, although the qualitative studies also highlight adaptive leadership and leaders being available and providing space. Some connections are made to the Nordic context in the reviewed studies, but these connections are not fully elaborated. CONCLUSION: Leadership is related to employee well-being, although this relationship seems to be indirect, mediated by other factors in the working environment. The review identifies the need for more well-designed studies addressing the contextual factors of this relationship, and how leadership should be exercised in practice.

The Predictive Validity of the Danish Psychosocial Work Environment Questionnaire With Regard to Onset of Depressive Disorders and Long-Term Sickness Absence

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the predictive validity of 32 measures of the Danish Psychosocial Work Environment Questionnaire (DPQ) against two criteria variables: onset of depressive disorders and long-term sickness absence (LTSA).

METHODS

The DPQ was sent to 8958 employed individuals in 14 job groups of which 4340 responded (response rate: 48.4%). Depressive disorders were measured by self-report with a 6-month follow-up. LTSA was measured with a 1-year follow-up in a national register. We analyzed onset of depressive disorders at follow-up using logistic regression models, adjusted for age, sex, and job group, while excluding respondents with depressive disorders at baseline. We analyzed onset of LTSA with Cox regression models, adjusted for age, sex, and job group, while excluding respondents with previous LTSA.

RESULTS

The general pattern of the results followed our hypotheses as high job demands, poorly organized working conditions, poor relations to colleagues and superiors, and negative reactions to the work situation predicted onset of depressive disorders at follow-up and onset of LTSA during follow-up. Analyzing onset of depressive disorders and onset of LTSA, we found risk estimates that deviated from unity in most of the investigated associations. Overall, we found higher risk estimates when analyzing onset of depressive disorders compared with onset of LTSA.

CONCLUSIONS

The analyses provide support for the predictive validity of most DPQ-measures. Results suggest that the DPQ constitutes a useful tool for identifying risk factors for depression and LTSA in the psychosocial work environment.

Burnout, Presenteeism and Workplace Conditions of Korean Taekwondo Coaches of High-Performance Athletes

Coaching is a stressful occupation, with expectations that are physically and psychologically demanding. Coaches are highly susceptible to occupational burnout and presenteeism, which ultimately affects the entire sporting community. In this study, coaching stress was evaluated by surveying taekwondo coaches to analyze the contributions of unique cultural predispositions and workplace conditions (environmental) to coach stress, burnout, and presenteeism. We verified the positive correlation between workplace conditions, burnout, and presenteeism for 210 taekwondo coaches; performed frequency, correlation, and confirmatory analysis using the compiled data; and the discussed the results within the framework of a formulated structural equation model. The research results are as follows. First, the workplace conditions of taekwondo coaches had a negative effect on burnout syndrome. Second, the workplace conditions of taekwondo coaches had a negative effect on presenteeism. Lastly, burnout of taekwondo coaches had a significant effect on presenteeism. Therefore, coaches' burnout decreases as their workplace conditions improve, and presenteeism decreases as their burnout increases in controlled workplace conditions.

Transformational Leadership, HRM practices and burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of personal stress, anxiety, and workplace loneliness

The present research investigates the crucial role of "Transformational Leadership (TFL)" on employees' "anxiety", "personal stress", and "workplace loneliness", and finally on employees' "burnout". Moreover, this survey investigates the moderating role of "HRM practices" in the relationship between TFL and burnout. For the needs of the research, "Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM)" was conducted on a sample of 459 Greek "customer-contact employees" based on thirteen hotels during the "COVID-19 pandemic". First, the findings uncover the dynamic of TFL in reducing all three stressors, namely "personal financial stress"; "anxiety"; and "workplace loneliness", thus prohibiting employees' "burnout". Moreover, the study underscores the moderating role of "HRM practices" in strengthening the negative relationship between TFL and "burnout". Overall, the findings provide additional evidence on the process through which "HRM practices" interact with "TFL", "job stressors", and employees' "burnout", a vital knowledge for HRM professionals and hotels' managers.

Exploring the multi-level influence of shared leadership on workplace spirituality in teams

Purpose

This study aims to examine the association between shared transformational leadership and workplace spirituality in teams. While articulating its theoretical propositions, this research draws on the theory of motivational effects of charismatic leadership based on the self-concept.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper has adopted the quantitative method and cross-sectional research design while examining the study’s variables’ multi-level relationship. The authors researched 141 project teams in India’s information technology setting.

Findings

This study shows that shared transformational leadership is associated with workplace spirituality. This research has also found significant within-team variance in team members’ workplace spirituality experiences.

Practical implications

The study’s results show that the information technology companies’ employees aspire to cultivate individual-specific meaning at work. Therefore, team leaders should strive to display transformational leadership behaviours to build individual-specific meaning and a sense of community among team members.

Social implications

The study’s findings imply that shared transformational leadership can reduce individualistic utilitarianism and the resulting baneful impact of hedonism. Society can also benefit from shared leadership’s impact on individuals’ self-work integration as it will probably strengthen the “other-benefitting” behaviour instead of mere hedonistic orientation.

Originality/value

This paper has addressed the theoretical tensions regarding the role of shared transformational leadership in inducing employees’ inner life, meaning at work and sense of community. This paper helps us understand shared transformational leadership’s effects on individual workplace spirituality experiences.

School principals' social support and teachers' basic need satisfaction: The mediating role of job demands and job resources

Many teachers report high levels of occupational stress. Teachers' basic need satisfaction is essential for teachers' well-being at work. Social support from school principals is assumed to play an important role for teachers' basic need satisfaction. However, the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between social support from school principals and teachers' basic need satisfaction are mostly unknown. Previous research suggests that job demands and job resources may play an important mediating role. Therefore, we examine whether teachers' perceived job demands and job resources serve as mediators between social support from the school principal and teachers' basic need satisfaction. Using longitudinal data of N = 1071 teachers over the course of one school year, we applied structural equation modelling to test the hypothesised mediation model. Results showed that the relationship between social support from the school principal and teachers' basic need satisfaction was mediated by teachers' perceived job demands and job resources. Particularly, the job demand 'unclear organisational conditions' and job resource 'social support from colleagues' indicated the strongest effects on teachers' basic need satisfaction. These findings emphasise the responsibility of school principals to provide social support to their teachers and create a well-structured and supportive workplace. In doing so, school principals contribute to a work environment in which teachers can thrive.

The impact of transformational leadership and interactional justice on follower performance and organizational commitment in a business context

The relationships between transformational leaders and several follower outcomes have been well investigated, but the mechanism through which these leadership behaviors relate to such outcomes is relatively unexplored. By investigating the mediating role of interactional justice, using structural equation modeling analyses, and data collected from supervisors and direct reports at various organizational levels, the present study provides insight into the psychological processes underlying transformational leadership and its effectiveness on follower outcomes. In line with social exchange theory, the main takeaway from the present study is suggesting that leaders, who display transformational leadership behavior in a manner perceived by followers as respectful, fair, and consistent with moral and ethical standards, may expect greater follower organizational attachment as an appropriate response to interactional justice.

Shared Leadership and Team Effectiveness: An Investigation of Whether and When in Engineering Design Teams

Shared leadership is lauded to be a performance-enhancing approach with applications in many management domains. It is conceptualized as a dynamic team process as it evolves over time. However, it is surprising to find that there are no studies that have examined its temporally relevant boundary conditions for the effectiveness of the team. Contributing to an advanced understanding of the mechanism of shared leadership in engineering design teams, this research aims to investigate whether shared leadership is positively related to team effectiveness and when shared leadership is more likely to be effective. Using a field sample of 119 individuals in 26 engineering design teams from China and the technique of social network analysis, we found that, consistent with cognate studies, shared leadership is positively related to team effectiveness when measured in terms of team task performance and team viability. Moreover, by integrating the project life cycle as a moderator, this study is among the first to investigate the temporal factors, for the effectiveness of shared leadership. The result shows that the stage of the project life cycle moderates the positive shared leadership-team effectiveness relationship, such that this association is stronger at the early phase than at the later phase of the project. Overall, these findings offer insightful thoughts to scholars in the field of shared leadership and bring practical suggestions for project managers in business who seek to implement best practice in organizations toward high team effectiveness.

Why busy leaders may have exhausted followers: a multilevel perspective on supportive leadership

Purpose

This study of leaders and followers working in day-care centers aims to use a multilevel perspective on supportive leadership to examine its role in linking workload at the leader level and emotional exhaustion at the follower level. Integrating theoretical work on social support with conservation of resources (COR) theory, leaders' workload is proposed to be positively related to followers' feelings of emotional exhaustion through constraining the enactment of supportive leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

Multisource survey data from 442 followers and their leaders from 68 teams were collected to test the hypotheses.

Findings

Multilevel analyses showed that leader workload was negatively related to followers' perception of supportive leadership, which, in turn, was positively related to followers' levels of emotional exhaustion. Leader workload was indirectly and positively related to follower emotional exhaustion via supportive leadership.

Research limitations/implications

This study provides initial support for the idea that work contextual factors at the leader level create boundaries for the extent to which leaders may provide support to their followers and draws attention to the accountability of leaders' work contextual factors for followers' well-being.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that organizations must not focus narrowly on training leaders on how to benefit followers but should also aim to optimize leaders' levels of workload to enable them to act in a supportive manner.

Originality/value

By considering both the receivers (i.e. followers) and providers (i.e. leaders) of support simultaneously, we take a crossover approach to COR theory and acknowledge that work contextual factors at higher organizational levels may spread to employee well-being at lower levels of the organization.

First-Line Managers' Experiences of Working with a Structured Support Model for Systematic Work Environment Management

Background: This paper describes the experiences of first-line managers when working with a structured support model for systematic work environment management in their work groups. First-line managers play a key part in influencing the work environment. Methods: In this study, a sample of managers implementing a structured support model, the Stamina model, in Swedish municipalities were interviewed. A total of 31 (n = 31) interviews were conducted at two time points during a one-year period. The collected data were analysed using a qualitative thematic approach. Results: The results showed that managers experienced discomfort when giving the responsibility of working with work environmental issues to employees. However, managers also experienced and were impressed by how well it worked in allowing employees to take on work environmental issues. Managers found that they balanced between being quiescent and, at the same time, actively monitoring progress in the work groups. Conclusions: The results from this study implicate that managers need to be sensitive to the needs and capacity of their work groups. The oracle in Delphi stated know yourself. We conclude: Know your group!

Workplace team resilience: A systematic review and conceptual development

Workplace team resilience has been proposed as a potential asset for work teams to maintain performance in the face of adverse events. Nonetheless, the research on team resilience has been conceptually and methodologically inconsistent. Taking a multilevel perspective, we present an integrative review of the workplace team resilience literature to identify the conceptual nature of team resilience and its unique value over and above personal resilience as well as other team concepts. We advance resilience research by providing a new multilevel model of team resilience that offers conceptual clarification regarding the relationship between individual-level and team-level resilience. The results of our review may form the basis for the development of a common operationalization of team resilience, which facilitates new empirical research examining ways that teams can improve their adversity management in the workplace.

Do Work Engagement and Transformational Leadership Facilitate Knowledge Sharing? A Perspective of Conservation of Resources Theory

Based on the perspective of conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study adopts a multilevel approach to examine the influences of employees’ personal resources (i.e., work engagement and intrinsic motivation) and external resources (i.e., transformational leadership) on knowledge sharing. This study conducts a survey to explore the interrelationships among transformational leadership, work engagement, intrinsic motivation, and knowledge sharing. The sample includes 33 healthcare work groups consisting of 214 group members. The results show that an individual’s personal and external resources are positive and benefit the promotion of knowledge sharing. As for personal resources, work engagement has a positive impact on knowledge sharing by increasing intrinsic motivation. Regarding external resources, transformational leadership acts as a facilitator for knowledge sharing. Specifically, the conditional indirect effects of work engagement on knowledge sharing through intrinsic motivation are more positive under high levels of transformational leadership, rather than low levels of transformational leadership. Based on the COR theory, this is the first study to argue that knowledge sharing could be considered as an active activity and that individuals could be eager to perform knowledge sharing when they possess significant personal and external resources. The results of this study provide new insights into knowledge sharing.

Leaders—watch out for LMX differentiation: A multilevel model of leader-related antecedences and consequences of LMX differentiation

Research has shown that leader–member exchange differentiation affects individual and group outcomes. However, it is not yet clear how such unequal treatment affects the team’s perception of their leader in terms of leader-related outcomes, such as perceived leader communication quality, satisfaction with the leader, and perceived leader effectiveness. We analyzed how leader–member exchange differentiation in teams affects leader-related outcomes, and how it is affected by transformational leadership at the team level. Multilevel analyses of data from 92 teams with 831 employees indicated that leader–member exchange differentiation within teams is negatively related to leader-related outcomes, whereas transformational leadership is negatively related to leader–member exchange differentiation. In addition, we found positive indirect effects from transformational leadership to the leader-related outcomes via leader–member exchange differentiation.

The dynamic relationship between laissez-faire leadership and day-level stress: A role theory perspective

Previous research on laissez-faire leadership and stress has focused on between-person differences by looking at general ratings of leader behaviours. Yet, researchers have demonstrated a high situational contingency of leadership behaviours that call for a more detailed analysis of within-person differences. We adopt a role theory perspective to explain why daily laissez-faire leadership is linked to daily stress of followers. Also drawing on role theory, we further explain fluctuations of supervisors’ laissez-faire leadership behaviour over time in relation to follower perceptions of day-specific stress. Finally, we also take followers’ level of neuroticism into perspective to describe when followers are particularly vulnerable to laissez-faire leadership. We conducted a diary study spanning over 5 days within 1 working week to test whether daily laissez-faire leadership and its variability were positively related to followers’ daily stress and whether these relations were moderated by follower neuroticism. A total of 201 participants completed the diary surveys ( M = 4.79 days × 201 participants = 963 data points) and provided information in an initial survey. Results gave support for most of our hypotheses and showed a positive relationship between daily laissez-faire leadership and daily stress as well as a positive relationship between laissez-faire leadership variability and daily stress. Neuroticism moderated the positive relationship between laissez-faire leadership variability and daily stress in the way that the relationship between laissez-faire leadership variability and daily stress was stronger for individuals with high neuroticism.

Leadership styles' influence on the quality of nursing care

PURPOSE

The purpose of this paper is to investigate managers' leadership styles, from the perspective of registered nurses, and its effects on the quality of nursing care in both the private and public healthcare sectors. An additional aim is to assess the relationship between leadership styles and particular organisational outcomes.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

The sample for this quantitative research study was comprised of 400 respondents, among which 50 were nurse managers, 150 were staff nurses and the remaining respondents were patients. Two questionnaires were used in this study: the multi-factor leadership questionnaire (MLQ) 5X short and a patient satisfaction with nursing care quality questionnaire (PSNCQQ).

FINDINGS

A positive correlation was found between the transformational leadership style with leadership outcomes and the quality of nursing care (r=0.811**, 0.759**, 0.789** and 0.877** for extra effort, job satisfaction, leader effectiveness and quality, respectively).

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Although the sample study was extensive, a possible limitation is that the research utilised convenient sample who are working in the private and public healthcare sectors thus limiting the generalisability of the study.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

This study was proposed as a baseline for upcoming studies in areas of education, nursing practice, research and quality. Moreover, this study was expected to be imperative to the hospital's management, in order to improve the current level of leadership, education models and advancement programs for the healthcare sector's senior staff.

Transformational leadership: does it really decrease work-related stress?

Purpose

Most studies focusing on the transformational leadership style present the conclusion that compared with other leadership styles tends to be associated with a lower level of workplace stress experienced by employees. Yet, the literature is by no means extensive enough to put the issue of the relationship between this style of leadership and employee stress to rest. Given that this is the case, the purpose of this paper is to assess the relationship between the transformational leadership style and the work stress (WS) of employees in the banking industry. The extent to which this relationship leads to employee burnout and the extent to which WS correlates with multiple factors, such as demographic characteristics (gender, work experience and marital status), are examined in this context.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 600 questionnaires were distributed to employees of government and non-government banks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in late 2017. The final sample comprised 250 complete sets, which were used in the analysis. The questionnaire consisted of four sections: transformational dimensions, WS, burnout and demographic profile. Before the authors proceeded to test the hypotheses developed in this study, the authors performed an exploratory factor analysis on the items designed to measure transformational dimensions, WS and burnout. Next, the authors performed confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results indicate that bank managers who use the transformational leadership style significantly increased the job-related stress of employees, indicating that bank managers who use a transformational leadership style increase the job-related stress of subordinate employees. However, the results in regard to the transformational leadership style show a significant though small positive effect on employee burnout, indicating that this type of leadership decreases employee burnout. Furthermore, job-related stress has a significant mediating effect in relation to the transformational leadership style and subordinate employees’ burnout. Finally, the results indicate that married status and a high level of work experience are each associated with lower job stress compared with unmarried status and a low level of work experience.

Originality/value

This research paper contributes to the literature by investigating transformational leadership in the banking industry – an industry of fundamental economic importance in Saudi Arabia and globally. The research results, unlike those reported in most other studies to date, strongly suggest that the transformational leadership style can be associated with a high level of workplace stress, thereby pointing to new conclusions about this style and its effects on the health and well-being of the majority of employees. The results of this paper should be carried forward in this research direction, as doing so has the potential to challenge and even override what have become assumptions about the positive effects of the transformational leadership style. The insights derived from this research paper, therefore, should benefit academics and practitioners who can reference the outcomes in designing programs to support the recruitment, selection and development of effective leaders in the banking sector – especially given the broader ramifications both for overall firm performance and for the well-being of the majority of the country’s employees.

Transformational Leadership and Depressive Symptoms in Germany: Validation of a Short Transformational Leadership Scale

Objectives:

The objective of the present study was to validate a shortened transformational leadership (TL) scale (12 items) comprising core TL behaviour and to test the associations of this shortened TL scale with depressive symptoms.

Methods:

The study used cross-sectional data from 1632 employees of the overall workforce of a middle-sized German company (51.6% men; mean age, 41.35 years; standard deviation, 9.4 years). TL was assessed with the German version of the Transformational Leadership Inventory and depressive symptoms with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The structural validity of the core TL scale was assessed with confirmatory factor analysis. Associations with depressive symptoms were estimated with structural equation modelling and adjusted logistic regression.

Results:

Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling showed better model fit for the core TL than for the full TL score. Logistic regression revealed 3.61-fold (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.20 to 5.93: women) to 4.46-fold (95% CI, 2.86 to 6.95: men) increased odds of reporting depressive symptoms (HADS score >8) for those in the lowest tertile of reported core TL.

Conclusions:

The shortened core TL seems to be a valid instrument for research and training purposes in the context of TL and depressive symptoms in employees. Of particular note, men reporting poor TL were more likely to report depressive symptoms.

The Role of Leaders in Designing Employees' Work Characteristics: Validation of the Health- and Development-Promoting Leadership Behavior Questionnaire

In this article, we draw upon the notion that employees’ work characteristics are an important pathway through which leaders influence employee well-being and propose a theoretical framework that integrates perspectives on leadership, occupational stress, and job design. Based on this integrative approach, we developed the health- and development-promoting leadership behavior questionnaire (HDLBQ) for assessing job demands emanating from and job resources provided through the leader. Validation of the measure in German, French, and English using an overall sample of 2,934 employees demonstrated adequate psychometric properties. An examination of the factorial structure revealed three higher-order factors: demanding, development-oriented, and support-oriented leadership. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis indicated structural equivalence across the three language versions of the HDLBQ. Correlations with employee well-being were moderate, and the HDLBQ explained unique variance in employee well-being beyond that explained by transformational leadership. Suggestions for applications of the HDLBQ and approaches to enhance employee well-being at the workplace are discussed.

High-Performance Work System, Work Well-Being, and Employee Creativity: Cross-Level Moderating Role of Transformational Leadership

Under the new normal, the economic development mode and growth momentum of China has brought about fundamental changes, which means that the development of enterprises has gradually shifted from being factor-and investment-driven to being innovation-and talent-driven. As the foundation of corporate innovation, employee creativity plays an important role in this process. In the field of strategic human resource management, high-performance work system is the embodiment of its core competence. Although some research has begun to try to explore the impact of high-performance work system on employee creativity, the underlying mechanism and the boundary condition is not yet fully understood. According to the Job demands-resources (JD-R) model, this study theorized and examined whether and when high-performance work system stimulate employee creativity. Using a sample of large and medium-sized enterprises in China, we collected data, which are time-lagged and multilevel, from 266 employees in 61 departments. Results of the hierarchical linear model found that (1) High-performance work system is positively related to employee creativity; (2) High-performance work system positively affects employee work well-being; (3) Work well-being positively affects employee creativity; (4) Employee work well-being partially mediates the relationship between high-performance work system and creativity; (5) Transformational leadership, which represents an important contextual variable in the workplace, moderates the relationship between work well-being and employee creativity; (6) Moreover, we have also revealed that transformational leadership can moderate the indirect effect of high-performance work system on employee creativity. We discussed the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

The association of vertical and horizontal workplace social capital with employees' job satisfaction, exhaustion and sleep disturbances: a prospective study

Purpose

Workplace social capital (WSC) may be beneficial for employees’ health and well-being; however, most studies have analyzed WSC on the individual and not the workplace level. We test whether higher compared to lower levels of vertical WSC (WSC between employees and superiors) and horizontal WSC (WSC between employees), measured at the workplace level, is prospectively associated with higher levels of employees’ well-being.

Methods

Using data from an intervention study, we analyzed associations between workplace aggregated vertical and horizontal WSC at baseline with job satisfaction, exhaustion and sleep disturbances at 24-months follow-up. The sample included 606 municipal pre-school employees (71 workplaces). We adjusted for individual and workplace characteristics, baseline scores of outcomes, intervention status, and the interaction of exposure with intervention status. We used the Genmod procedure in SAS with a repeated statement to account for correlation of individuals within workplaces. We repeated analyses using individual-level WSC measurements.

Results

Higher levels of vertical and horizontal WSC at baseline predicted a higher level of job satisfaction (0.20, p = 0.01 and 0.24, p = 0.01, respectively) and a lower level of exhaustion (− 0.33, p = 0.04 and − 0.43, p = 0.04) at follow-up in the most adjusted model. Analyses with individual-level measures yielded similar results and further showed an association of a higher level of horizontal WSC with a lower level of sleep disturbances.

Conclusions

Higher levels of vertical and horizontal WSC were prospectively associated with better well-being of employees in municipal pre-schools. Workplaces may thus consider focusing on improving WSC as a means for ensuring or improving employees’ well-being.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1007/s00420-019-01432-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A Meta-Analysis of Shared Leadership: Antecedents, Consequences, and Moderators

Many organizations are encouraging a shared leadership approach that meets the increased complexity of today’s working environment. It is therefore imperative for researchers to clearly comprehend the mechanism of shared leadership in teams. Contributing to the burgeoning research in the field of shared leadership, this study aims to advance our understanding along the many dimensions of the shared leadership phenomenon: its antecedents, moderators, and consequences. In this article, we provide a critical and comprehensive analysis of the extant literature and generate an integrated framework that presents seven hypotheses and five research questions. We then empirically test this framework via a systematic meta-analysis from 40 studies (team n = 3,019). Significantly, our findings reveal that the internal team environment and team heterogeneity are positively related to the emergence of shared leadership in teams. Moreover, we confirm the positive relationship between shared leadership and team outcomes. Our analysis also highlights how intragroup trust and task interdependence significantly moderate the shared leadership–team outcomes relations, with higher correlations observed in greater levels of intragroup trust, as well as larger levels of task interdependence. We also find the moderating effect of shared leadership measurement methods in such relations. Specifically, there is a stronger relationship when shared leadership is measured with social network analysis, rather than aggregating approaches. Overall, our study brings valuable insights into the shared leadership area and provides clear directions for future research.

Health-promoting leadership: An integrative review and future research agenda

AIM

To provide a synthesis of the evidence of health-promoting leadership related to nursing by exploring definitions, core attributes and critical conditions.

BACKGROUND

Increasing pressure in healthcare settings due to efficiency requirements, population ageing with complex illnesses and projected global shortage of nurses, is a potential threat to nurses' health and job satisfaction, and patient quality of care and safety. New ways of thinking about nursing leadership and evidence-based human resource management are required to improve nursing environments.

DESIGN

Integrative literature review.

DATA SOURCES

Eight databases were searched: Academic Search Premier, CINAHL, Emerald, ERIC, Web of Science, MEDLINE, Psychinfo and Science Direct. Included papers were published between 2000-2016.

REVIEW METHODS

Of 339 papers, 13 were eligible for inclusion: eight qualitative and five quantitative. Studies were assessed for quality using standardized checklists. Framework-based synthesis was used, allowing for themes identified a priori to be specified as coding categories. This method also allows new themes to emerge de novo.

RESULTS

Four themes were identified. There are multiple definitions of health-promoting leadership, along with description of the non-health-promoting leader. The health-promoting nurse leader engages in employees' health promotion, and takes responsibility for actions and maintains open communication, accommodating nurses' participation in change processes. Through competence development, the health-promoting organization builds capacity.

CONCLUSION

Health-promoting leadership may be a promising path to optimizing nursing outcomes through holistic thinking, which emphasizes the importance of context. Accumulated research is required to build a stronger line of international research, with attention to underlying mechanisms, limiting conditions and behaviours known to health-promoting leadership.

The association between team-level social capital and individual-level work engagement: Differences between subtypes of social capital and the impact of intra-team agreement

The study explored the association between team-level social capital and individual-level work engagement. Questionnaire data were collected from six companies in the dairy industry. Seven hundred seventy-two participants divided into 65 teams were included. In confirmatory factor analyses, we found a superior model fit to a four dimensional model of social capital: bonding social capital, bridging social capital and two types of linking social capital. The results showed a positive association between all subtypes of social capital at the team level and work engagement at the individual level. However, this association only remained significant for linking social capital in relation the workplace as a whole when we adjusted for psychosocial working conditions. The level of intra-team agreement in social capital score did not moderate the association between social capital and work engagement. In conclusion, the results provide further support for previous findings suggesting a positive association between social capital and work engagement. They add to the existing knowledge by suggesting that linking social capital in relation to the workplace is the most important explanatory variable for work engagement, thus emphasizing the need to distinguish between subtypes of social capital in research and practice.

Leading for the long haul: a mixed-method evaluation of the Sustainment Leadership Scale (SLS)

Background

Despite our progress in understanding the organizational context for implementation and specifically the role of leadership in implementation, its role in sustainment has received little attention. This paper took a mixed-method approach to examine leadership during the sustainment phase of the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment (EPIS) framework. Utilizing the Implementation Leadership Scale as a foundation, we sought to develop a short, practical measure of sustainment leadership that can be used for both applied and research purposes.

Methods

Data for this study were collected as a part of a larger mixed-method study of evidence-based intervention, SafeCare®, sustainment. Quantitative data were collected from 157 providers using web-based surveys. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the factor structure of the Sustainment Leadership Scale (SLS). Qualitative data were collected from 95 providers who participated in one of 15 focus groups. A framework approach guided qualitative data analysis. Mixed-method integration was also utilized to examine convergence of quantitative and qualitative findings.

Results

Confirmatory factor analysis supported the a priori higher order factor structure of the SLS with subscales indicating a single higher order sustainment leadership factor. The SLS demonstrated excellent internal consistency reliability. Qualitative analyses offered support for the dimensions of sustainment leadership captured by the quantitative measure, in addition to uncovering a fifth possible factor, available leadership.

Conclusions

This study found qualitative and quantitative support for the pragmatic SLS measure. The SLS can be used for assessing leadership of first-level leaders to understand how staff perceive leadership during sustainment and to suggest areas where leaders could direct more attention in order to increase the likelihood that EBIs are institutionalized into the normal functioning of the organization.

Is organizational justice climate at the workplace associated with individual-level quality of care and organizational affective commitment? A multi-level, cross-sectional study on dentistry in Sweden

Purpose

The aim of this study is to investigate whether organizational justice climate at the workplace level is associated with individual staff members’ perceptions of care quality and affective commitment to the workplace.

Methods

The study adopts a cross-sectional multi-level design. Data were collected using an electronic survey and a response rate of 75% was obtained. Organizational justice climate and affective commitment to the workplace were measured by items from Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire and quality of care by three self-developed items. Non-managerial staff working at dental clinics with at least five respondents (n = 900 from 68 units) was included in analyses. A set of Level-2 random intercept models were built to predict individual-level organizational affective commitment and perceived quality of care from unit-level organizational justice climate, controlling for potential confounding by group size, gender, age, and occupation.

Results

The results of the empty model showed substantial between-unit variation for both affective commitment (ICC-1 = 0.17) and quality of care (ICC-1 = 0.12). The overall results showed that the shared perception of organizational justice climate at the clinical unit level was significantly associated with perceived quality of care and affective commitment to the organization (p < 0.001).

Conclusions

Organizational justice climate at work unit level explained all variation in affective commitment among dental clinics and was associated with both the individual staff members’ affective commitment and perceived quality of care. These findings suggest a potential for that addressing organizational justice climate may be a way to promote quality of care and enhancing affective commitment. However, longitudinal studies are needed to support causality in the examined relationships. Intervention research is also recommended to probe the effectiveness of actions increasing unit-level organizational justice climate and test their impact on quality of care and affective commitment.

Do Work Characteristics Mediate the Negative Effect of Transformational Leadership on Impaired Well-Being?

Abstract: In recent years, transformational leadership as a health-related factor has become a focal point of interest in research and practice. However, the pathways and mechanisms underlying this association are not yet well understood. In order to gain knowledge on how or why transformational leadership and employee well-being are associated, we investigated the mediating effect of the work characteristics role clarity and predictability. The study was carried out on 618 employees working in the health-care sector in Germany. We tested the mediator effect using structural equation modeling. The results indicate that role clarity and predictability fully mediate the relation between transformational leadership and negative indicators of well-being. These results give credit to the notion that work characteristics play an important role in identifying health-relevant aspects of leadership behavior. Our findings advance the understanding of how to enhance employee well-being and have implications for the design of leadership-related interventions of workplace health promotion.

A Multi-Level Theory of Psychological Contract Fulfillment in Teams

A recent focus on social contexts in the psychological contracts literature has provided the bases for the study of psychological contract fulfillment (PCF) at higher levels of analysis. Continuing these efforts, we develop a model of two key constructs of PCF at the team level: shared team PCF and shared individual PCF. In this article, we provide definitions and theorize about the processes that govern the emergence of these constructs. In addition, we discuss enabling factors for the emergence of the constructs and conceptually differentiate them from other related team-level constructs. We also propose a nomological network of the relationships of shared team PCF and shared individual PCF with important team-level variables, considering at the same time the interplay between individual and collective phenomena. The model provides new insights about antecedents and outcomes of PCF constructs at the team level. Finally, we discuss theoretical and practical implications as well as directions for future research.