Leadership and employee’s attitudes among healthcare professionals- Evidence from healthcare in Greece

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between team leadership and the attitudes of healthcare professionals regarding job performance, burnout, job satisfaction and well-being of employees. The hypothesized model of this research, following the JD–R (job demands–resources model) will investigate the role of effective clinical leadership (defined as those displaying both transformational and transactional leadership characteristics) as a valuable job resource which might lead to the well-being of employees. Moreover, the model will investigate the relationship between the three different leadership styles (transformational, transactional and laissez-faire) and well-being, job performance, burnout and job satisfaction. For the purpose of this study, an empirical quantitative research was conducted. Therefore, a questionnaire, including in its first section demographic traits concerning the gender, age, working experience, profession and formal position of responsibility and in its second section validated instruments related to the hypothesized model of this research was designed. The study population consisted of doctors, nurses and allied healthcare professionals working in public tertiary and secondary hospitals in the Regions of Central and Western Macedonia, Greece. Totally, 351 questionnaires were completed. The data were transferred into the statistical software SPSS. v25 for analysis. The reliability of the scales used was tested with the Cronbach’s Alpha statistic, and the scores constructed from those scales were tested for normality with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk Tests. In order to answer the seven hypotheses of this study, the parametric t-test and one-way ANOVA tests were used. For relations between interval variables, this study utilized the Pearson correlation coefficient test and for relations between categorical variables the Chi-square test was conducted. The confidence level was set to a = 0.05. The results rejected the hypothesis that effective leadership is related to job satisfaction, burnout, job performance and well-being of healthcare professionals. However, the study demonstrated that transformational leadership style is positively correlated to job performance and well-being, and negatively correlated to burnout. Furthermore, job satisfaction was depicted as positively correlated to job performance and well-being. Finally, burnout was shown to be negatively correlated to job performance and well-being, whereas job performance was found to be positively correlated to employee’s well-being. These findings illustrate the beneficial role of transformational leadership style in promoting job satisfaction, job performance, mitigating the effects of burnout, ensuring the well-being of healthcare professionals in the multidimensional, dynamic, challenging and complex context of healthcare systems.