Perceptions of leadership styles in occupational therapy practice

Leadership is a critical topic in healthcare because of its influence on direction and culture. This study aims to measure perceptions of leadership styles amongst occupational therapy clinicians. The study also sought to identify any significant differences between the perceptions of clinician groups, compare findings with established norms and explore associations between leadership styles and outcomes.

A cross sectional, descriptive study method was used, using the multifactor leadership questionnaire 5X (MLQ-5X) to survey occupational therapists working in physical and mental health clinical services in Australia. Descriptive statistics were used to address the aims of this study.

A number of significant differences in leadership perceptions were identified between junior and senior clinicians, however, very few differences were detected between the physical and mental health settings. The scores provided by participants were consistently lower than those reported for geographically relevant norms, with the majority on or close to the 40th percentile. A significant relationship was found between transformative leadership and outcomes, and a strong relationship between contingent reward and outcomes. However, the negative relationships between other leadership styles and outcomes reported in other studies were not found.

Transformational leadership, and some aspects of transactional leadership, are used in occupational therapy. The career stage has an impact on how leadership behaviours are perceived. The MLQ-5X could enable a consistent approach to research into healthcare leadership, and the exploration of whether these findings are generalisable beyond the Australian context.

Career stage may be a more significant influence on leadership perception than service setting, and efforts to develop leadership in occupational therapy should focus on both transformative and transactional leadership. Perceptions of occupational leadership from all areas of the workforce are important to understand, given their potential impact on workplace behaviour, career progression, recruitment and retention.

This study is a partial replication of a previous study conducted in the USA, being the first to use the MLQ-5X with the Australian occupational therapy workforce. As such, it consolidates the existing evidence base in this area and also enables international comparisons of findings.