Managerial leadership is associated with employee stress, health, and sickness absence independently of the demand-control-support model.
OBJECTIVE
Research on health effects of managerial leadership has only taken established work environment factors into account to a limited extent. We therefore investigated the associations between a measure of Attentive Managerial Leadership (AML), and perceived stress, age-relative self-rated health, and sickness absence due to overstrain/fatigue, adjusting for the dimensions of the Demand-Control-Support model.


METHODS
Blue- and white-collar workers from Finland, Germany and Sweden employed in a multi-national forest industry company (N=12,622).


METHODS
Cross-sectional data on leadership and health from a company-wide survey analysed with logistic regression in different subgroups.


RESULTS
AML was associated with perceived stress, age-relative self-rated health, and sickness absence due to overstrain/fatigue after controlling for the Demand-Control-Support model. Lack of AML was significantly associated with a high stress level in all subgroups (OR=1.68-2.67). Associations with age-relative self-rated health and sickness absence due to overstrain/fatigue were weaker, but still significant, and in the expected direction for several of the subgroups studied, suggesting an association between lack of AML and negative health consequences.


CONCLUSIONS
The study indicates that managerial leadership is associated with employee stress, health, and sickness absence independently of the Demand-Control-Support model and should be considered in future studies of health consequences for employees, and in work environment interventions.
Westerlund
Hugo
H
Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden. hugo.westerlund@stressforskning.su.se
Nyberg
Anna
A
Bernin
Peggy
P
Hyde
Martin
M
Oxenstierna
Gabriel
G
Jäppinen
Paavo
P
Väänänen
Ari
A
Theorell
Töres
T
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004647:Employee Discipline / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D007857:Leadership; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016272:Occupational Health; D009790:Occupations; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012016:Reference Values; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology