Examining ethical leadership in health care organizations and its impacts on employee work attitudes: an empirical analysis from Austria.

Purpose: This study aims to examine the effects of ethical leadership on job satisfaction, affective commitment and burnout of health care employees, considering frustration tolerance and emotional stability as moderating variables. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was used to survey hea...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Leadership in Health Services (1751-1879) Vol. 34; no. 3; pp. 229 - 248
Main Authors: Franczukowska, Arleta Anna, Krczal, Eva, Knapp, Christine, Baumgartner, Martina
Format: research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Emerald Publishing Limited 2021
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=152201371&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ccm
    uiTerm: 152201371
    longDbName: CINAHL Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    dissinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        17511879
        6BET
      jtl: Leadership in Health Services (1751-1879)
      issn: 17511879
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: 2021
      vid: 34
      iid: 3
      pid: 465
      pub: Emerald Publishing Limited
    artinfo:
      ui:
        152201371
        152201371
        152201371
        10.1108/LHS-06-2020-0034
        152201371
      ppf: 229
      ppct: 19
      formats:
      tig:
        atl: Examining ethical leadership in health care organizations and its impacts on employee work attitudes: an empirical analysis from Austria.
      aug:
        au:
          Franczukowska, Arleta Anna
          Krczal, Eva
          Knapp, Christine
          Baumgartner, Martina
        affil: Department for Economy and Health, Danube University Krems, Krems, Austria
      sug:
        subj:
          Leadership Ethical Issues
          Job Satisfaction
          Commitment
          Burnout, Professional
          Frustration
          Personality
          Emotions
          Attitude of Health Personnel
          Questionnaires
          Private Sector
          Public Sector
          Regression
          Descriptive Statistics
          Models, Theoretical
          Surveys
          Sampling Error
          Male
          Female
          Scales
          Psychological Tests
          Health Personnel
          Multiple Linear Regression
          Data Analysis Software
          Confidence Intervals
          Odds Ratio
          Human
          Male
          Female
      ab: Purpose: This study aims to examine the effects of ethical leadership on job satisfaction, affective commitment and burnout of health care employees, considering frustration tolerance and emotional stability as moderating variables. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was used to survey health care professionals working in private and public Austrian health-care organizations (hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and sanatoriums). The questionnaire consisted of items from well-established scales. The collected data (n = 458) was analyzed using correlation and regression analyzes. Findings: Findings indicated that ethical leadership is significantly positively related to job satisfaction (r = 0.485, p < 0.01) and affective commitment (r = 0.461, p < 0.01) and is significantly negatively related to burnout (r = −0.347, p < 0.01). The results also suggest that frustration tolerance (ß = 0.101, p < 0.1) and emotional stability (ß = 0.093, p < 0.1) moderate the relationship between ethical leadership and burnout. Furthermore, a moderation effect of emotional stability in the ethical leadership and affective commitment relation was indicated. No moderation effect was found for frustration tolerance or emotional stability for the relationship between ethical leadership and job satisfaction. Practical implications: Ethical leadership emphasizes the socio-emotional dimension in a leader-employee relationship, which can easily be neglected in times of staff cuts and work overload. Leadership training should include the development of skills in how to visibly act as a moral person, as well as how to set clear ethical standards and communicate them to employees. Originality/value: This study adds value to the limited evidence on the beneficial role of ethical leadership in health care settings. In addition, frustration tolerance and emotional stability have not before been investigated as moderators.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
    refInfo:
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N