Abstract
The link between leadership and mental health at the workplace is well established by prior research. However, most of the studies have addressed this relationship from a single-source perspective. The aim of this study was to examine how supervisor and employee ratings of health-oriented leadership correspond to each other and which sources are predictive for employee mental health. We assessed data within 99 teams (headed by 99 supervisors) containing 713 employees in 11 different companies in Southern Germany. Supervisors and their staff completed questionnaires on the supervisors’ health-oriented staff-care dimensions awareness, value of health and health behavior (Health-Oriented Leadership Scale, HoL) and current mental distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS). Hierarchical linear models revealed that supervisors’ self-ratings were significantly related to their employees’ ratings (at the team level) only on the health behavior dimension, but not on the health awareness and value of health dimensions. Also, supervisors rated themselves significantly higher on HoL compared to their employees. Employee ratings of HoL significantly predicted their own level of mental distress (direct within-level effect), whereas supervisor ratings of HoL did not predict employees’ mental distress at the team level (direct cross-level effect). Supervisors’ self-ratings of HoL did not influence the relationship between employee ratings of HoL and their mental distress on an individual level (cross-level interaction). These results highlight the complex relationship between multisource assessments of HoL and employee mental health, emphasizing the importance of subjective perception for mental health. Future studies should investigate under which conditions supervisor and employee ratings correspond to each other and are predictive for mental health at the workplace.
Highlights
The potentially negative impact of job demands on employees’ health has been well established in previous research (Demerouti et al, 2001)
To address these research questions (RQ), the first aim of the study was to test the relationship between supervisor and employee health-oriented leadership (HoL) ratings, and the second aim was to test which of these rating-sources are predictive for employee mental health
Most of these constructs reflect proximal health outcomes at the workplace, like job stress, job-related exhaustion or organizational support. It remains unclear whether supervisor behaviors have beneficial effects on more distal outcomes, like general mental distress. We propose that both supervisor and employee ratings of HoL significantly predict employee mental health, with larger effects for single-source ratings
Summary
The potentially negative impact of job demands on employees’ (mental) health has been well established in previous research (Demerouti et al, 2001). Especially trough prolonged job demands, employees might enter a loss spiral of job demands and exhaustion and develop serious mental health impairments over time (e.g., Hakanen et al, 2008; Magnusson Hanson et al, 2016; Guthier et al, 2020). These impairments lead both to high individual suffering of those affected and to a considerable impairment of work performance and productivity (van den Heuvel et al, 2010; McTernan et al, 2013; Montano et al, 2017). Creating healthy workplaces and recognizing mental distress at an early stage, is a central task for organizations and their representatives
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