Prevention-focused leadership and well-being during the pandemic: mediation by role clarity and workload
Leadership & Organization Development Journal
ISSN: 0143-7739
Article publication date: 25 July 2022
Issue publication date: 18 August 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The global pandemic has required organisational leaders to respond rapidly in a time of uncertainty. A specific challenge for leaders during the global pandemic is the salient and immediate threat to worker health and well-being. Unfortunately, the consequences of different leadership actions in this context are not well understood. By exploring the path from leader behaviour to employee well-being via experienced work characteristics, this study aims to provide a framework for better understanding pandemic threat and corresponding leadership impact.
Design/methodology/approach
Two prevention-focused leadership strategies were explored: defend and adapt strategy. Two important work characteristics role clarity and workload were used to help explain the links between leadership strategies and well-being. Potential mediating pathways were tested in path analysis with Mplus (v7.4) based on 515 online survey responses.
Findings
Different mediating pathways demonstrated complex associations between the constructs. Increases in the both prevention-focused leadership strategies were found associated with positive well-being by increasing employees' perceptions of leadership and by improving role clarity in the workplace. Notably, evidence also supported that increase in defend strategy was linked to reduced worker well-being through intensified workload.
Originality/value
In times of uncertainty amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic, prevention-focused leadership is vital to engage the workforce and ensure compliance with safety procedures to avoid associated risks to worker health and organisational performance. This research focused on the rarely studied topic of prevention-focused leadership, and how prevention strategies were related to employee well-being. Based on the findings for prevention-focused defend and adapt strategies, this study suggested leadership practices that might shape employee well-being in a time of turbulence.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author Keyao Li was funded by ARC Training Centre for Transforming Maintenance through Data Science.
Citation
Li, K. and Griffin, M.A. (2022), "Prevention-focused leadership and well-being during the pandemic: mediation by role clarity and workload", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 43 No. 6, pp. 890-908. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-10-2021-0455
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited