Managers’ and employees’ experiences of how managers’ wellbeing impacts their leadership behaviours in Swedish small businesses

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There is a growing interest in managers’ wellbeing due to the observed associations between their wellbeing and leadership behaviours, and between leadership behaviours and employees’ wellbeing. However, it is still unclear how managers’ wellbeing influences their practiced leadership across different workplace contexts, which specific behaviours are affected, and how this varies across time. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was therefore to explore managers’ and employees’ experiences and perceptions regarding the consequences of managers’ wellbeing for their leadership behaviours in small businesses. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 37 participants (19 managers and 18 employees) working at 12 Swedish small firms, and analysed using content analysis. RESULTS: The findings show that managers were more constructive when they felt well, and more passively destructive when unwell. Variations in managers’ wellbeing influenced their mood, energy level, and performance, as well as the company’s working climate. However, these destructive leadership variations did not have a substantial impact, because several protective factors were present. CONCLUSION: This study shows that the wellbeing of managers in small businesses has perceptible consequences for their leadership behaviours. The study also shows that sustained leadership behaviours may coexist with temporary variations of these behaviours on a constructive-destructive continuum depending on the leader’s wellbeing. Overall, the findings contribute to a more nuanced and dynamic understanding of how the interaction between managers’ wellbeing and their behaviours unfolds in the particular context of small companies.

A qualitative study of factors that managers in small companies consider important for their wellbeing

“…Since handling high demands requires energy (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007 ) and drains managers’ resources, this may bring short-term variations in managers’ wellbeing. This finding is in agreement with existing empirical evidence that highlights daily fluctuations in job demands and resources (Bakker, 2014 ) and fluctuations in managers’ wellbeing (Ahmadi et al, 2022 ; Barnes et al, 2015 ).…”

“…It is worth mentioning that these resources may also be influenced by leadership behaviours and the structure of the organization. In a recent study, Ahmadi et al ( 2022 ) found that factors that can be affected by managers’ wellbeing include the working climate, work relations, and interaction with employees as well as managers’ own performance and achievement of results. In other words, these factors may be both consequences and antecedents of managers’ wellbeing, and might be influenced both by managers’ behaviours and by the organizational context of the companies.…”