Leading well: Challenges to researching leadership in occupational health psychology – and some ways forward

Abstract

Studies on the effects of leadership in occupational health psychology build on the assumption that leaders influence their followers' health and well-being. Although this assumption has received support, this introductory paper to a special issue of Work & Stress on leadership argues that a number of questions regarding leadership and follower health and well-being remain unanswered. We identify four issues that we argue warrant further attention. First, what is "good" leadership? Particular leadership types are associated with increases in employee performance, but since this will involve higher effort expenditure, adverse outcomes for employee health are to be expected. Although many types of leadership are associated with favourable outcomes, we still need to identify the leadership characteristics can be identified that account for these positive outcomes. Second, how can good leadership be promoted? There is a need to develop interventions that are effective in promoting desirable leadership styles. Third, what are the intermediate and long-term effects of leadership on follower health? Finally, we need to understand the boundary conditions for good leadership, including the resources available to leaders. Based on these considerations, we conclude that further research is needed to fully understand the effects of leadership on employee health and well-being.

Effects of perceived overqualification on career distress and career planning: Mediating role of career identity and moderating role of leader humility

“…To the best of our knowledge, leadership has not been considered a moderating factor of the effects of perceived overqualification. This is surprising because leadership is one of the most important contextual variables in the workplace that has been found to deeply influence employees' workplace attitudes and behaviors (Nielsen & Taris, 2019). Considering symbolic interactionism perspective of identity, in the present research, we identified leader humility as a moderator that strengthens the positive effects of perceived overqualification on employees' career identity.…”

Editorial: Healthy Healthcare: Empirical Occupational Health Research and Evidence-Based Practice

“…The importance of leadership in creating healthy workplaces has been highlighted in earlier research (Furunes et al, 2018 ; Furunes, 2020 ), but a concept of health-promoting leadership has not yet been well established in occupational health research and models, which, therefore, warrants further exploration and new research. With critical questions being posed on how we can better understand the influence leadership has on the three Healthy Healthcare pillar—workers well-being (Nielsen and Taris, 2019 ), patient safety and care (Sfantou et al, 2017 ), and organizational systems and strategy (Bonardi et al, 2019 )—developments here will have direct relevance for Healthy Healthcare , particularly where research looks at more than one pillar.…”

An Open Time Perspective and Social Support to Sustain in Healthcare Work: Results of a Two-Wave Complete Panel Study

“…For example, recent research of Nielsen and Taris (2019) points to the accumulating evidence for an association between leadership or supervisor behavior and positive mental well-being, but no study to date has examined the effects of leaders in developing time-broadening perspectives or workplans for aging healthcare workers (see also Thun and Bakker, 2018;Nikolova et al, 2019). Support from leaders and colleagues can have a positive effect on workers' well-being (Nielsen and Taris, 2019). The current study suggests that high levels of supervisor support can form a significant buffer for maintaining higher levels of external employability in the case of a low future time perspective at work.…”