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Healthcare managers’ leadership profiles in relation to perceptions of work stressors and stress

Caroline Lornudd (Medical Management Centre, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden)
David Bergman (Medical Management Centre, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden)
Christer Sandahl (Medical Management Centre, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden)
Ulrica von Thiele Schwarz (Medical Management Centre, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden)

Leadership in Health Services

ISSN: 1751-1879

Article publication date: 1 January 2016

2539

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between leadership profiles and differences in managers’ own levels of work stress symptoms and perceptions of work stressors causing stress.

Design/methodology/approach

Cross-sectional data were used. Healthcare managers (n = 188) rated three dimensions of their leadership behavior and levels of work stressors and stress. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to identify leadership profiles based on leadership behaviors. Differences in stress-related outcomes between profiles were assessed using one-way analysis of variance.

Findings

Four distinct clusters of leadership profiles were found. They discriminated in perception of work stressors and stress: the profile distinguished by the lowest mean in all behavior dimensions, exhibited a pattern with significantly more negative ratings compared to the other profiles.

Practical implications

This paper proposes that leadership profile is an individual factor involved in the stress process, including work stressors and stress, which may inform targeted health promoting interventions for healthcare managers.

Originality/value

This is the first study to investigate the relationship between leadership profiles and work stressors and stress in healthcare managers.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express gratitude for the financial support from AFA Insurance, grant no. 100073, which made this study and analyses possible. The authors are also grateful for support from Mikael Ohrling, CEO at Stockholm County Council (SCC). Further, the authors would like to thank Therese Wahlström, Karolinska Institute, for her help with data collection. Finally, the authors would like to thank all respondents for taking their time to answer the questionnaires.

Citation

Lornudd, C., Bergman, D., Sandahl, C. and von Thiele Schwarz, U. (2016), "Healthcare managers’ leadership profiles in relation to perceptions of work stressors and stress", Leadership in Health Services, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 185-200. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHS-06-2015-0016

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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