Citation

Ahmed F, Xiong Z, Faraz NA, Arslan A. Int. J. Occup. Safety Ergonomics 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Centralny Instytut Ochrony Pracy - Państwowy Instytut Badawczy, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10803548.2022.2086755

PMID

35678558

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented psychological challenges for the frontline healthcare workers, especially nurses', causing anxiety and depression leading to burnout. The responsibility of healthcare leaders has increased many folds to curb nurses' burnout which could lead to various unwanted negative consequences at the workplace if left unchecked. To respond to this issue, this study is an attempt to employ the conservation of resources theory to examine the relationship between perceived servant leadership and nurses' burnout, with the mediating role of psychological safety and the moderating role of trust in leaders. A three-wave longitudinal design was used to collect data. Respondents included 1,204 nurses from 27 hospitals across nine provinces in China. The partial least squares structural equation modeling technique was used for data analyses with smartPLS 3.2.8 software. The findings endorse that servant leadership measured at the time1 significantly reduces nurses' burnout measured at the time 3 through mediating role of psychological safety measured at the time2, and that a higher level of trust in the leader enhances the impact of servant leadership in reducing nurses' burnout.

Language: en

Keywords

burnout; conservation of resources theory; psychological safety; servant leadership; trust in the leader