Transformational Leadership Moderates the Relationship Between Emotional Exhaustion and Turnover Intention Among Community Mental Health Providers

Abstract

Public sector mental health care providers are at high risk for burnout and emotional exhaustion which negatively affect job performance and client satisfaction with services. Few studies have examined ways to reduce these associations, but transformational leadership may have a positive effect. We examine the relationships between transformational leadership, emotional exhaustion, and turnover intention in a sample of 388 community mental health providers. Emotional exhaustion was positively related to turnover intention, and transformational leadership was negatively related to both emotional exhaustion and turnover intention. Transformational leadership moderated the relationship between emotional exhaustion and turnover intention, indicating that having a transformational leader may buffer the effects of providers’ emotional exhaustion on turnover intention. Investing in transformational leadership development for supervisors could reduce emotional exhaustion and turnover among public sector mental health providers.

Integrating Self-Determination and Job Demands–Resources Theory in Predicting Mental Health Provider Burnout

“…For example, leadership training programs could focus on increasing levels of supervisor autonomy support. Previous research suggests that leadership training programs can be a cost-effective way to positively impact the work environment (Dvir, Eden, Avolio, & Shamir, 2002;Green, Miller, & Aarons, 2013).…”

The Impact of Work-Life Balance on Employees’ Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention; the Moderating Role of Continuance Commitment

“…Turnover intention is the possibility that an employee leaves their position in near future [28]. Several factors might influence employees' turnover intention such as ethical leadership and climate [29], commitment [30], psychological contract breach [31], and organizational satisfaction [32].…”

The Role of Social Support for Reemployed Women

“…If employees lacked the resources required for effective job performance, their emotional resources would be depleted faster, which in turn would eventually lead to voluntary turnover. Green, Miller and Aarons (2013) and Wang (2014) also suggested that emotional exhaustion was positively related to turnover intention. As a result, in terms of the reemployed women on whom this study focuses, their intention to change or quit jobs expectedly increases not only by financial difficulties but also by psychological difficulties caused by personal relations in the workplace, i.e., due to emotional exhaustion.…”