Stressors beget stressors: The effect of passive leadership on employee health through workload and work–family conflict

Xin Xuan Che; Zhiqing E. Zhou; Stacey R. Kessler; Paul E. Spector

doi:10.1080/02678373.2017.1317881

Stressors beget stressors: The effect of passive leadership on employee health through workload and work–family conflict

Xin Xuan Che, Zhiqing E. Zhou, Stacey R. Kessler, Paul E. Spector

Management

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

42 Scopus citations

Abstract

The current study examined passive leadership as a potential antecedent of two commonly studied workplace stressors (i.e. workload and work–family conflict), and investigated its negative effect on employee burnout and physical symptoms via these stressors. We collected two waves of data from 274 focal participants, and one wave of data from their co-workers. Results showed that both self-reported and co-worker-reported passive leadership was positively related to employee burnout and physical symptoms, as well as workload and work–family conflict. Additionally, workload and work–family conflict partially mediated the effects of passive leadership on burnout and physical symptoms, respectively. Our findings support the notion that passive leadership can create a stressful workplace and have a detrimental effect on employees’ health.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	338-354
Number of pages	17
Journal	Work and Stress
Volume	31
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2017.1317881
State	Published - 2017

Keywords

Burnout
Employee health
Passive leadership
Physical symptoms
Workload
Work–family conflict

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10.1080/02678373.2017.1317881

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Stressors beget stressors: The effect of passive leadership on employee health through workload and work–family conflict

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Keywords

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