Constructive and destructive leadership in job demands-resources theory: A meta-analytic test of the motivational and health-impairment pathways

Abstract

Integrating the leadership literature with Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory, we conducted a pre-registered meta-analysis of the relations of different leadership behaviors with followers’ work engagement and burnout. We found that constructive leadership relates positively to followers’ work engagement ( k = 588, [Formula: see text] =.467) and negatively to followers’ burnout ( k = 346, [Formula: see text] =−.327), whereas destructive leadership relates negatively to followers’ work engagement ( k = 72, [Formula: see text] =−.220) and positively to followers’ burnout ( k = 122, [Formula: see text] =.381). We furthermore demonstrated that both followers’ work engagement and burnout partially mediate the relations of both constructive and destructive leadership with followers’ job performance. However, the indirect relation of constructive leadership with followers’ job performance via followers’ work engagement is clearly the strongest, suggesting that leaders stimulate followers’ job performance primarily because they motivate followers. We discuss how the findings of this theory-driven meta-analysis help to integrate leadership research in JD-R theory and generate important insights for leadership behavior and training.