Exploring the Double-Edged Sword Effect of Responsible Leadership on Nurses' Proactive Behavior: The Mediating Roles...

While leadership has been identified as a critical antecedent, the mechanisms underlying the impact of responsible leadership, particularly its potential dual pathways, remain underexplored among nurses.

This study aims to investigate the mechanisms through which responsible leadership influences nurses' proactive behavior, focusing on the mediating roles of affective commitment and emotional exhaustion.

A multisource, multi-time point survey was conducted. Data were collected from nurse-leader dyads across two time points, 45 days apart. A mediation model was constructed and tested using SPSS 24.0 and AMOS 19.0.

The empirical findings show that responsible leadership positively affects nurses' proactive behavior (b = 0.280, SE = 0.118, p = 0.019 < 0.05). Both affective commitment (95% CI: [0.002, 0.109]) and emotional exhaustion (95% CI: [-0.112, -0.001]) of nurses serve as partial mediators in the relationship between responsible leadership and proactive behavior.

Drawing on the Job Demands-Resources model, this study addresses the theoretical gap by revealing the paradoxical pathways through which a single leadership style can exert both motivational and health-impairing effects, specifically in the case of responsible leadership. These findings suggest that nursing managers should foster responsible leadership to strengthen affective commitment and promote proactive behavior, while simultaneously mitigating the risk of emotional exhaustion through adequate resources, psychological safety, and regular support. This study provides empirical evidence to inform nursing management practices and workforce development strategies.

No patient or public contribution.