Introduction

For decades, psychological research has consistently demonstrated that leaders play a crucial role in influencing employee wellbeing and illbeing (Inceoglu et al., 2018; Teetzen et al., 2022). Despite this progress, much remains unknown and still unclear regarding the underlying mechanisms through which leadership behaviors influence employee wellbeing and illbeing (Berger et al., 2023; Inceoglu et al., 2018).

First, there is a paucity of studies examining both short and long-term mechanisms of leadership’s influence on employee wellbeing and illbeing (Czakert & Berger, 2024; Sonnentag et al., 2022), limiting our understanding of whether a leader’s influence on employee wellbeing and illbeing in a short-term may exert a stronger influence than in the long-term or vice versa. Second, the interconnected nature of pathways linking leadership to employee wellbeing and illbeing to date remains underexplored, leaving significant gaps in understanding the complex temporal dynamic interplay of mechanisms through which leadership behaviors impact employee wellbeing or illbeing (Fischer et al., 2021; Inceoglu et al., 2018).

Drawing on the theoretical linkage of leadership and the Job Demand-Resource (JD-R) theory (Tummers & Bakkers, 2021), this study addresses these research gaps by conceptualizing active positive and negative leadership as an upstream, stable organizational factor that directly impacts lower-level work demands in a form of negative motivational mechanisms, such as negative work-home interference and job role conflicts. These factors, in turn, influence short-term (negative affect) and long-term affective mechanisms (burnout), consequently affecting employee physical illbeing. The aim therefore is to explore how positive and negative leadership behaviors in a short and long-term, influence employee physical illbeing via negative motivational-affective mechanisms under work and work-home conditions.

Methodology

Data were collected at seven time points across three waves, with a two-month interval from 234 full-time workers across various sectors in Ghana including education, banking, telecommunication, health, security and information technology. Among the 234 participants, 54.3% were employed in the private sector, while 45.7% worked in the public sector. Gender distribution was evenly split, with 117 males and 117 females, each constituting 50% of the participants. Most participants fell within the age range of 25-34 years, comprising 60.3% of the sample.

Given the nested structure of our data (repeated monthly measures nested within individuals), we conducted a multi-level analysis to examine our proposed model. Preliminary analyses, including multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA), intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and reliability measures (RC) yielded acceptable scores. All analyses were performed using the open-source package 'lavaan' in the R statistical software environment.

Findings

Results from multilevel path analysis showed that when leaders display transformational leadership behaviors, they reduce negative work-home interferences (inter-role conflict), and job role conflicts (intra-role conflict) experienced by their employees. This, in turn, decreases employee physical illbeing via negative affect (short-term affective mechanism) and burnout (long-term affective mechanism). Conversely, leaders who exhibit abusive leadership behaviors increase negative work-home interference (inter-role conflict) and job role conflicts (intra-role conflict) among employees. This escalation increases employees’ physical illbeing via elevating their negative affect (short-term affective mechanism) and burnout (long-term affective mechanism). Additionally, the findings showed that the influence of leadership behaviors on employee physical illbeing is more pronounced through the short-term affective mechanism (negative affect) than through the long-term affective mechanism (burnout).

Implications

This study deepens our understanding of how leadership behaviors shape employee physical illbeing through both short-term and long-term mechanisms. It reveals that leaders influence conflict-related negative motivational mechanisms specifically, negative work-home interferences and job role conflict, which subsequently impact employee physical illbeing via negative affect (short-term) and burnout (long-term). Notably, the findings suggest that negative affect has a stronger and more immediate effect on physical illbeing than burnout, highlighting the need to address leadership-induced stressors before they escalate into chronic health issues.

Furthermore, this study sheds light on the interconnected pathways linking leadership to employee physical illbeing, moving beyond previous studies that often treated these mechanisms as independent processes. This research illustrates how motivational mechanisms influenced by leadership create a causal chain that impacts affective mechanisms, ultimately shaping employee physical illbeing. In addition, the findings showed that negative work-home interference played a more significant role than job role conflict, suggesting that leaders’ influence extend beyond the workplace and into employees’ personal lives. This insight is particularly relevant in the context of remote and hybrid work, where blurred boundaries between professional and personal life make managing work-home interference increasingly crucial for employee physical illbeing.

From practical standpoint, organizations should implement leadership development programs that promote transformational leadership while establishing checks and balances to mitigate leader’s abusive behaviors. Additionally, investing in comprehensive well-being initiatives that takes into account short and long-term strategies are essential. Short-term strategies include wellness programs, mental health support, and fostering an inclusive work environment, while long-term efforts should focus on monitoring burnout risks and addressing prolonged work stress. Lastly, policies that encourage positive work-home interference and reduce role conflicts, such as flexible work arrangements and clear job expectations, are essential.

References

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/1353289

Czakert, J.P., Berger, R. (2024). The Influence of Leadership on Employees’ Work-nonwork Interface and Wellbeing: A Scoping Review. Current Psychology, 43, 6075-6100.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04762-3

Fischer, T., Tian, A. W., Lee, A., & Hughes, D. J. (2021). Abusive supervision: A systematic review and fundamental rethink. The Leadership Quarterly, 32(6), 101540. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2021.101540

Inceoglu, I., Thomas, G., Chu, C., Plans, D., & Gerbasi, A. (2018). Leadership behavior and employee well-being: An integrated review and a future research agenda. The Leadership Quarterly, 29(1), 179-202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2017.12.006

Sonnentag, S., Cheng, B. H., & Parker, S. L. (2022). Recovery from work: Advancing the field toward the future. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 9, 33-60. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-091355

Teetzen, F., Bürkner, P. C., Gregersen, S., & Vincent-Höper, S. (2022). The mediating effects of work characteristics on the relationship between transformational leadership and employee well-being: a meta-analytic investigation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(5), 3133. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19053133

Tummers, L. G., & Bakker, A. B. (2021). Leadership and job demands-resources theory: A systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 722080. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.722080