Fostering Security Providing Leadership: A Resource to Safeguard Against Employee Burnout

Abstract

In work settings, different leadership styles significantly impact employee well-being, potentially leading to improved health or heightened stress levels. This research posits that leadership focused on providing security can serve as a crucial asset in mitigating employee job burnout. The study explores the correlation between employees' perceptions of their leaders' security-oriented leadership and their experience of job-related burnout. This research explores how security- providing leaders impact burnout, highlighting the mediating roles of organizational climate (psychological safety) and organizational dehumanization. The study surveyed 655 Spanish employees (53.7% women) through non- discriminative snowball sampling. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), results confirm a negative link between security-providing leadership and burnout. The study also finds that this relationship is influenced by psychological safety climate and organizational dehumanization. These findings support attachment-based leadership, indicating ways to create better organizational environments. Leaders focusing on security enhance employee well-being by promoting psychological safety and reducing organizational dehumanization, thus mitigating job burnout. Key Words: leadership; attachment theory; security provider; organizational climate; organizational dehumanization, burnout.