Psychosocial resources and the relationship between transformational leadership and employees' psychological strain

Leadership behavior may both serve as a supportive resource or as a source of psychological distress in the workplace.

Transformational leadership (TL), a behavior of superiors that fosters motivation, empowerment and a sense of teamness, has been associated with employee well-being, but the mechanisms that underlie these effects are unclear. We therefore explored the relationship between TL and stress by examining potential mediating roles for established organizational and personal resources.

We used cross-sectional data on TL, psychosocial resources and employee strain from a company wide survey. Linear regression and structural equation modeling assessed potential mediation following the method outlined by Baron and Kenny.

In a convenience sample consisting of mostly white-collar employees (n=320, 42.6% male), we observed a relationship between TL and employees' perceived work-related stress that was fully mediated by protective psychosocial resources (ß =-0.33, p< 0.01). Additionally, we found that TL positively affected these resources (ß=0.61; p< 0.01) and that absence of resources led to more psychological strain (ß=-0.54, p<0.01).

Transformational leadership seems to be associated with lower stress among employees and a perception of more available psychosocial resources. These findings indicate that TL might serve as a valuable focus for tailored interventions to improve employee health.