Going the distance? A meta-analysis of leadership styles, social distance, turnover intention, and organizational commitment

Resumo original em inglês

O que aconteceu

Retention of healthcare personnel is a global challenge with severe implications for securing stable, high-quality healthcare services. The common saying that 'people do not leave a bad job, but they leave a bad boss' stresses the influence a formal leader has on employees' turnover intentions (TI) and organizational commitment (OC). Understanding what makes an effective leader is essential for understanding managers' agency in dealing with employee retention; yet, few systematic reviews compare the effectiveness of leaders. This study conducts a systematic review and identifies 54 studies that include 147 correlation effect sizes from public hospitals worldwide. Conducting a multi-level meta-analysis, we find that leadership is significantly associated with employee's TI (r = -0.158, [-0.213; -0.102]) and OC (r = 0.266, [0.194; 0.336]); however, the meta-regression reveals that the correlation effect sizes of leadership styles vary significantly across studies where leader-member exchange (LMX) (OC: r = 0.32; TI: r = -0.37), servant (OC: r = 0.40), supportive (OC: r = 0.35; TI: r = -0.36), and ethical (OC: r = 0.43) leadership styles are most strongly associated with the employee outcomes. A deeper dive into the leadership styles reveals that social distance moderates the relationship between leadership styles and OC and TI as correlation effect sizes decrease when social distance increase (TI: r = 0.161, std error = 0.046, p = 0.032; OC: r = -0.298, std. error = 0.072, p = 0.008). With minor exceptions, findings remain relatively stable across cultures, methods, and participant characteristics. These findings nuance previous leadership research in healthcare and public management and have important implications for research and practice.

Resumo publicado sob licença CC BY. A tradução para o português ainda não chegou a este estudo.