The Only way is up? How Different Facets of Employee and Supervisor Perfectionism Help or Hinder Career Development

Although the double-edged nature of perfectionism is widely acknowledged, little is known about how it shapes employee career development. By combining two field studies, we provide a multiperspective insight into the relevance of both employee and supervisor perfectionism for employee career development. While we expected self-oriented perfectionism (SOP) to have an ambivalent role for career development, we proposed that socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) in particular, but also other-oriented perfectionism (OOP), would show maladaptive relationships with career-related indicators. In Study 1 (N = 116), we focused on the employee perspective and how multidimensional perfectionism relates to career aspirations (operationalized via work motivation) and subjective career success. Employees high in SOP reported higher, whereas those high in SPP reported lower perceived career success. OOP was negatively related to intrinsic motivation, but positively explained extrinsic (social) motivation and amotivation. In Study 2 (N = 146), we examined the role of supervisor perfectionism in supporting or hindering employees' career development by providing or draining resources. Our results show that supervisors high in SOP - and partly in OOP are reluctant to delegate highly responsible tasks; SPP even increased the likelihood of assigning illegitimate tasks to subordinates. Our findings suggest that both employee and supervisor perfectionism may boost or thwart employee career development and success. We discuss that supervisor perfectionism may limit employees' opportunities for experiential learning.

A diary study on the moderating role of leader-member exchange on the relationship between job characteristics, job satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion

Job characteristics play an essential role for the well-being of employees. When job characteristics are unfavorable, the experienced exchange relationship with one’s supervisor (i.e., leader-member exchange, LMX) may become relevant to weaken negative consequences. We conducted a diary study over ten consecutive working days with 112 academics. Based on conservation of resources theory, we assumed that daily LMX constitutes a resource for employees that moderates the link between job characteristics (job control and time pressure) and job satisfaction as well as emotional exhaustion. Additionally, we proposed lagged-effects of morning job characteristics and LMX on next-day morning job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion. Findings from hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) demonstrated that on the day-level higher perceived levels of job control in the morning were associated with higher perceived job satisfaction and lower perceived emotional exhaustion in the afternoon. The experience of increased time pressure in the morning was negatively related to perceived day-level afternoon job satisfaction and positively to perceived day-level afternoon emotional exhaustion. Within one day, perceived LMX moderated the relationship between perceived job control and perceived job satisfaction in the afternoon. We only found lagged effects of the interaction between afternoon job control and afternoon LMX on next-day morning job satisfaction. We discuss daily LMX as a resource for employees both within one day and from day-to day, along with future research directions on the buffering role of LMX.

A Meta-Analysis of the Relative Contribution of Leadership Styles to Followers’ Mental Health

It is well-established that different leadership styles are associated with followers’ mental health. However, little is known about the relative strength of the relationship of different leadership styles with followers’ mental health. So far, there is no meta-analysis comparing the incremental contribution of different leadership styles to mental health and studying potentially problematic construct proliferation. We included studies that compared at least two leadership styles in view of their relationships with followers’ mental health and directly estimated the relative contribution of seven leadership styles (i.e., transformational, transactional, laissez-faire, task-oriented, relationship-oriented, and destructive leadership, as well as leader-member exchange) to followers’ mental health. Using meta-analytical regression models, we compared the strength of the relationships between these leadership styles and followers’ overall mental health as well as positive (well-being and psychological functioning) and negative aspects of their mental health (affective symptoms, stress, and health complaints). Fifty-three studies with 217 effect sizes comprising 93,470 participants met the inclusion criteria. Transformational and destructive leadership were the strongest predictors of overall and negative aspects of mental health among followers. In contrast, the strongest predictors of positive mental health outcomes among followers were relations-oriented and task-oriented leadership, followed by transformational leadership. In sum, our results suggest that various leadership styles make unique contributions to explaining followers’ mental health and thus construct proliferation mostly does not pose a major problem when predicting relevant outcomes in this domain of leadership research. Our results are relevant for leadership development programs and for future organizational leadership models.

Cross-level effects of health-promoting leadership on nurse presenteeism: The mediation and moderation effect of workload and performance pressure

This study examines the cross-level influence mechanism of leaders’ health-promoting leadership on subordinates’ presenteeism among nursing industry. A multilevel mediated moderation model was hypothesized to explore whether health-promoting leadership is associated with subordinates’ presenteeism via the workload of subordinates, and how leader’s performance pressure plays the role in the model. Questionnaires were distributed to 110 nursing teams, which including 110 chief nurses and 660 subordinate nurses. Our findings showed that although health-promoting leadership has no direct impact on presenteeism, health-promoting leadership has an indirect impact on presenteeism via workload, and workload acts as a complete mediator. Meanwhile, performance pressure moderated the relationship between health-promoting leadership and workload. With an increase in performance pressure of leaders, the negative impact of health-promoting leadership on nurse workload gradually weakened. In this multilevel mediated moderation model, the mediated moderating effect of performance pressure was significant and the moderating effect was completely mediated, which means that the interaction between health-promoting leadership and performance pressure can affect presenteeism through workload. When leaders were under high performance pressure, the protective effect of health-promoting leadership on workload would be inhibited. These findings contribute to enriching the research on presenteeism, providing insight into how the health development of employees and performance demands of leaders may be balanced, and affording fresh thoughts for effective prevention and treatment of nurse presenteeism.

The Key Job Demands and Resources of Nursing Staff: An Integrative Review of Reviews

The aim of our review is to identify the key job resources and demands of nursing staff by integrating findings from previously published reviews along the lines of the JD-R model. Understanding these is highly relevant given the ever-increasing pressure in nursing work and the challenges of healthcare organizations in recruiting qualified staff. It is also an important step toward developing targeted workplace interventions. A comprehensive search of the literature identified 14 quantitative and qualitative reviews that were included in our integrative review of reviews. Thematic analysis identified three key job demands and six key job resources of nursing staff, namely work overload, lack of formal rewards, work-life interference, supervisor support, fair and authentic management, transformational leadership, interpersonal relations, autonomy and professional resources. Our results corroborate findings from previous reviews, expand the relevance and generalizability by considering a broader range of relevant health-related and motivational outcomes, and highlight the importance of leadership practices in nursing.

Caring for Oneself or for Others? How Consistent and Inconsistent Profiles of Health-Oriented Leadership Are Related to Follower Strain and Health

Health-oriented leadership consists of three dimensions that contribute to employee health: staff care, i.e., health-specific follower-directed leadership, as well as both leaders' and followers' self care, i.e., health-specific self-leadership. This study explores profiles of follower self care, leader self care and staff care, and investigates the relationships with follower health in two samples. We identified four patterns of health-oriented leadership: A consistently positive profile (high care), a consistently negative profile (low care), and two profiles showing inconsistencies between follower self care, leader self care, and staff care (leader sacrifice and follower sacrifice). The high care profile reported the best health compared to both the low care profile and the inconsistent profiles. The follower sacrifice profile reported more strain than the leader sacrifice profile, while strain and health levels were the least favorable in the low care profile. Findings reveal that (in-)consistency between follower-directed leadership and self-leadership contributes to follower strain and health.

Leader–member exchange and employee health: an exploration of explanatory mechanisms

Purpose

The impact of employee health on organizations, individual employees and society as a whole is vast. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between leadership–member exchange (LMX) and employee mental and physical health. Additionally, two variables with strong empirical and theoretical ties to employee health (empowerment and stress) are explored as potential mediators.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey responses from 182 employees across two organizations were collected to measure study variables. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to analyze data and test hypotheses.

Findings

An association between LMX and employee health was found to be fully mediated by both empowerment and stress.

Originality/value

These findings contribute to the literature by providing evidence of the association between leadership and both the mental and physical health of employees. This phenomenon highlights the significant impact that leaders have on subordinates both at work and in their general lives outside of the workplace. Understanding the mediating pathways through which leadership comes to impact employee health creates new knowledge regarding the manner in which constructs as disparate as leadership and employee health come to form an association.

Compensatory Coping Through the Extension of Working Hours

Abstract. To advance knowledge of the mechanisms underlying the relationship between leadership and employees’ well-being, this study examines leaders’ effects on their employees’ compensatory coping efforts. Using an extension of the job demands–resources model, we propose that high-quality leader–member exchange (LMX) allows employees to cope with high job demands without increasing their effort expenditure through the extension of working hours. Data analyses ( N = 356) revealed that LMX buffers the effect of quantitative demands on the extension of working hours such that the indirect effect of quantitative demands on emotional exhaustion is only significant at low and average levels of LMX. This study indicates that integrating leadership with employees’ coping efforts into a unifying model contributes to understanding how leadership is related to employees’ well-being. The notion that leaders can affect their employees’ use of compensatory coping efforts that detract from well-being offers promising approaches to the promotion of workplace health.

Investigating the Role of Stress-Preventive Leadership in the Workplace Hospital: The Cross-Sectional Determination of Relational Quality by Transformational Leadership

Introduction: A good relationship quality between leaders and staff members promotes mental health and prevents stress. To improve the relationship quality, it is important to identify variables which determine relationship quality at the workplace. Therefore, this study aims to identify specific leadership characteristics which support the development of a positive relationship between hospital leaders and staff members. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was applied. A total number of 1,137 leaders (n = 315) and staff members (n = 822) of different professions (physicians, nursing staff, therapeutic professionals, administration staff, IT staff, clinical services, office assistants, scientists, others) working at a tertiary hospital in Germany assessed transformational leadership style as a staff-oriented leadership style and leader-member relationship quality by self-report questionnaires [integrative leadership questionnaire (FIF), leader-member exchange (LMX-7) questionnaire]. The data were statistically analyzed by mean comparisons and a multiple linear regression analysis. Results: Leaders rated their own transformational leadership style (M = 3.98, SD = 0.43) systematically higher than staff members assessed their leader (M = 2.86, SD = 1.04). Evaluation of relationship quality showed similar results: leaders evaluated their relationship quality to one exemplary staff member higher (M = 4.06, SD = 0.41) than staff members rated their relationship quality to their direct leader (M = 3.15, SD = 0.97). From the staff members' perspective, four sub-dimensions of transformational leadership, that is, "individuality focus," "being a role model," "fostering innovations," and "providing a vision" showed large effect sizes in the regression analysis of relationship quality (R ² = 0.79, F (14,690) = 189.26, p < 0.001, f = 1.94). Discussion: The results of our study are in line with previous investigations in other working contexts and point to a profession-independent association as the professional group of participants did not contribute to the variance explanation of the regression analysis. The exploration of potential determinants of relationship quality at work can, for example, support the development of leadership training programs with a focus on transformational leadership style. This might be an opportunity to foster high relationship quality between leaders and staff members and consequently might represent one strategy to prevent stress in the health care sector.

Instrumental Leadership: Extending the Transformational-Transactional Leadership Paradigm

Although the transformational-transactional leadership paradigm is successful in explaining considerable portions of variance in organizationally relevant outcome criteria, recent critiques emphasized that this paradigm might be incomplete. Thus, Antonakis and House (2002) suggested that instrumental leadership might extend the transformational-transactional leadership paradigm and allow for a more detailed and realistic description of the leadership phenomenon. The present study is the first to test – among basic aspects of construct validity – the prognostic validity of instrumental leadership with regard to performance and job satisfaction. Results from three independent empirical studies revealed that four dimensions of instrumental leadership (i.e., Environmental Monitoring, Strategy Formulation, Path-Goal Facilitation, and Outcome Monitoring) can be distinguished. As for concurrent validity, Environmental Monitoring and Path-Goal Facilitation were related to job satisfaction. This result was obtained while controlling for transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership, lending support for the incremental validity of instrumental leadership. With regard to the predictive validity, Environmental Monitoring, Strategy Formulation, and Path-Goal Facilitation (assessed at T1) were related to subsequent objective performance (assessed at T2) in a second study. Finally, in a third study, Path-Goal Facilitation (T1) was associated with subsequent job satisfaction and affective commitment (both T2). Overall, these results demonstrate that potentially, instrumental leadership is a valid extension to the transformational-transactional leadership paradigm.