IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i20p13102-d939770.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reducing Healthcare Employees’ Burnout through Ethical Leadership: The Role of Altruism and Motivation

Author

Listed:
  • Yushan Wu

    (School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China)

  • Qinghua Fu

    (Department of Business Administration, Moutai Institute, Zunyi 563000, China)

  • Sher Akbar

    (Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Islamabad 45550, Pakistan)

  • Sarminah Samad

    (Department of Business Administration, College of Business and Administration, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia)

  • Ubaldo Comite

    (Department of Business Sciences, University Giustino Fortunato, 82100 Benevento, Italy)

  • Mirela Bucurean

    (Department of Management-Marketing, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Oradea, 410087 Oradea, Romania)

  • Alina Badulescu

    (Department of Economics and Business, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Oradea, 410087 Oradea, Romania)

Abstract

Globally, employee burnout (EBO) is a black swan in healthcare management. Previous organizational management literature shows that EBO was often misunderstood by assuming it as a personal issue. However, the new definition by the World Health Organization (WHO) clearly indicates that EBO is an occupational phenomenon that places responsibility on organizations to manage it. Although recent evidence suggests ethical leadership (ELP) style may be important to mitigate EBO, shockingly, such relationships were not tested in healthcare systems, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Filling this knowledge gap in the existing body of knowledge, this study aimed to investigate the ELP–EBO relationship. To explain the underlying mechanism of how ELP reduces EBO, this study included two psychological factors as a mediator and a moderator: altruism (AL) and intrinsic motivation (IM). The data were obtained from hospital employees via a self-administered questionnaire ( n = 289, paper-pencil method). A hypothetical framework was designed and tested for empirical validation through structural equation modeling (SEM). Empirical evidence confirmed that ELP reduces the risk of burnout among hospital employees, and AL mediates this relationship. The results also confirmed the conditional indirect role of IM in the above proposed mediated relationship. This study’s outcomes can help hospital administration deal with EBO’s epidemic in an ELP framework. Other, different implications have also been discussed in detail.

Suggested Citation

  • Yushan Wu & Qinghua Fu & Sher Akbar & Sarminah Samad & Ubaldo Comite & Mirela Bucurean & Alina Badulescu, 2022. "Reducing Healthcare Employees’ Burnout through Ethical Leadership: The Role of Altruism and Motivation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-17, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:20:p:13102-:d:939770
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/20/13102/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/20/13102/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Naveed Ahmad & Asif Mahmood & Antonio Ariza-Montes & Heesup Han & Felipe Hernández-Perlines & Luis Araya-Castillo & Miklas Scholz, 2021. "Sustainable Businesses Speak to the Heart of Consumers: Looking at Sustainability with a Marketing Lens to Reap Banking Consumers’ Loyalty," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-16, March.
    2. Ozgur Demirtas & A. Akdogan, 2015. "The Effect of Ethical Leadership Behavior on Ethical Climate, Turnover Intention, and Affective Commitment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 59-67, August.
    3. Tu Yidong & Lu Xinxin, 2013. "How Ethical Leadership Influence Employees’ Innovative Work Behavior: A Perspective of Intrinsic Motivation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(2), pages 441-455, August.
    4. Brown, Michael E. & Trevino, Linda K. & Harrison, David A., 2005. "Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 117-134, July.
    5. Zasuwa, Grzegorz, 2016. "Do the ends justify the means? How altruistic values moderate consumer responses to corporate social initiatives," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3714-3719.
    6. Jinyong Chen & Wafa Ghardallou & Ubaldo Comite & Naveed Ahmad & Hyungseo Bobby Ryu & Antonio Ariza-Montes & Heesup Han, 2022. "Managing Hospital Employees’ Burnout through Transformational Leadership: The Role of Resilience, Role Clarity, and Intrinsic Motivation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-23, September.
    7. Li Xu & Jacob Cherian & Muhammad Zaheer & Muhammad Safdar Sial & Ubaldo Comite & Laura Mariana Cismas & Juan Felipe Espinosa Cristia & Judit Oláh, 2022. "The Role of Healthcare Employees’ Pro-Environmental Behavior for De-Carbonization: An Energy Conservation Approach from CSR Perspective," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-18, May.
    8. Jie Feng & Yucheng Zhang & Xinmei Liu & Long Zhang & Xiao Han, 2018. "Just the Right Amount of Ethics Inspires Creativity: A Cross-Level Investigation of Ethical Leadership, Intrinsic Motivation, and Employee Creativity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(3), pages 645-658, December.
    9. S. Divya & L. Suganthi, 2018. "Influence of transformational-servant leadership styles and justice perceptions on employee burnout: a moderated mediation model," International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 15(1), pages 119-135.
    10. Shamas-ur-Rehman Toor & George Ofori, 2009. "Ethical Leadership: Examining the Relationships with Full Range Leadership Model, Employee Outcomes, and Organizational Culture," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(4), pages 533-547, December.
    11. Shenjiang Mo & Junqi Shi, 2017. "Linking Ethical Leadership to Employee Burnout, Workplace Deviance and Performance: Testing the Mediating Roles of Trust in Leader and Surface Acting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 293-303, August.
    12. Jack McCann & Roger Holt, 2009. "Ethical Leadership and Organizations: An Analysis of Leadership in the Manufacturing Industry Based on the Perceived Leadership Integrity Scale," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 87(2), pages 211-220, June.
    13. Gabriel, Kelly P. & Aguinis, Herman, 2022. "How to prevent and combat employee burnout and create healthier workplaces during crises and beyond," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 183-192.
    14. Khalil-ur-Rehman & Mohammad Adnan & Naveed Ahmad & Miklas Scholz & Muhammad Khalique & Rana Tahir Naveed & Heesup Han, 2021. "Impact of Substantive Staging and Communicative Staging of Sustainable Servicescape on Behavioral Intentions of Hotel Customers through Overall Perceived Image: A Case of Boutique Hotels," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-17, August.
    15. Khalil Awan & Naveed Ahmad & Rana Tahir Naveed & Miklas Scholz & Mohammad Adnan & Heesup Han, 2021. "The Impact of Work–Family Enrichment on Subjective Career Success through Job Engagement: A Case of Banking Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-16, August.
    16. Yidong Tu & Xinxin Lu, 2016. "Do Ethical Leaders Give Followers the Confidence to Go the Extra Mile? The Moderating Role of Intrinsic Motivation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(1), pages 129-144, April.
    17. Óscar Llopis & Nicolai Foss, 2016. "Understanding the climate–knowledge sharing relation: The moderating roles of intrinsic motivation and job autonomy," Post-Print hal-02008562, HAL.
    18. Junjie Peng & Sarminah Samad & Ubaldo Comite & Naveed Ahmad & Heesup Han & Antonio Ariza-Montes & Alejandro Vega-Muñoz, 2022. "Environmentally Specific Servant Leadership and Employees’ Energy-Specific Pro-Environmental Behavior: Evidence from Healthcare Sector of a Developing Economy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-16, June.
    19. Llopis, Oscar & Foss, Nicolai J., 2016. "Understanding the climate–knowledge sharing relation: The moderating roles of intrinsic motivation and job autonomy," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 135-144.
    20. Zia Ullah & Nighat Akbar Shah & Sonia Shamroz Khan & Naveed Ahmad & Miklas Scholz, 2021. "Mapping Institutional Interventions to Mitigate Suicides: A Study of Causes and Prevention," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-16, October.
    21. Jinqiang Zhu & Shiyong Xu & Kan Ouyang & David Herst & Elaine Farndale, 2018. "Ethical leadership and employee pro-social rule-breaking behavior in China," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(1), pages 59-81, February.
    22. Aamir Chughtai & Marann Byrne & Barbara Flood, 2015. "Linking Ethical Leadership to Employee Well-Being: The Role of Trust in Supervisor," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 653-663, May.
    23. van Dick, Rolf & Cordes, Berrit L. & Lemoine, Jérémy E. & Steffens, Niklas K. & Haslam, S. Alexander & Akfirat, Serap Arslan & Ballada, Christine Joy A. & Bazarov, Tahir & Jamir Benzon R. Aruta, John , 2021. "Identity leadership, employee burnout, and the mediating role of team identification: evidence from the global identity leadership development project," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112609, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    24. Qinghua Fu & Jacob Cherian & Naveed Ahmad & Miklas Scholz & Sarminah Samad & Ubaldo Comite, 2022. "An Inclusive Leadership Framework to Foster Employee Creativity in the Healthcare Sector: The Role of Psychological Safety and Polychronicity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-13, April.
    25. Tahira Alam & Zia Ullah & Fatima Saleh AlDhaen & Esra AlDhaen & Naveed Ahmad & Miklas Scholz, 2021. "Towards Explaining Knowledge Hiding through Relationship Conflict, Frustration, and Irritability: The Case of Public Sector Teaching Hospitals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-15, November.
    26. Jesse T. Vullinghs & Annebel H. B. Hoogh & Deanne N. Den Hartog & Corine Boon, 2020. "Ethical and Passive Leadership and Their Joint Relationships with Burnout via Role Clarity and Role Overload," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(4), pages 719-733, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yushan Wu & Rita Yi Man Li & Sher Akbar & Qinghua Fu & Sarminah Samad & Ubaldo Comite, 2022. "The Effectiveness of Humble Leadership to Mitigate Employee Burnout in the Healthcare Sector: A Structural Equation Model Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-20, October.
    2. Huan Zhang & Khaoula Omhand & Huaizheng Li & Aqeel Ahmad & Sarminah Samad & Darie Gavrilut & Daniel Badulescu, 2022. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Energy-Related Pro-Environmental Behaviour of Employees in Hospitality Industry," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-19, December.
    3. Jinyong Chen & Wafa Ghardallou & Ubaldo Comite & Naveed Ahmad & Hyungseo Bobby Ryu & Antonio Ariza-Montes & Heesup Han, 2022. "Managing Hospital Employees’ Burnout through Transformational Leadership: The Role of Resilience, Role Clarity, and Intrinsic Motivation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-23, September.
    4. Qiangzhen Jian & Xiuting Wang & Hisham Mohammad Al-Smadi & Aamer Waheed & Alina Badulescu & Sarminah Samad, 2022. "Proposing a Robust Model to Reduce Employees’ Turnover Intentions in an Ethical Leadership Framework: Empirical Evidence from the Healthcare Sector," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-20, July.
    5. Ying Xu & Diao Jie & Hongyu Wu & Xiaolu Shi & Daniel Badulescu & Sher Akbar & Alina Badulescu, 2022. "Reducing Employee Turnover Intentions in Tourism and Hospitality Sector: The Mediating Effect of Quality of Work Life and Intrinsic Motivation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-18, September.
    6. Hao Zhou & Xinyi Sheng & Yulin He & Xiaoye Qian, 2020. "Ethical Leadership as the Reliever of Frontline Service Employees’ Emotional Exhaustion: A Moderated Mediation Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-13, February.
    7. Muhammad Asif & Miao Qing & Jinsoo Hwang & Hao Shi, 2019. "Ethical Leadership, Affective Commitment, Work Engagement, and Creativity: Testing a Multiple Mediation Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-16, August.
    8. Ahmed Mohammed Sayed Mostafa & Sam Farley & Monica Zaharie, 2021. "Examining the Boundaries of Ethical Leadership: The Harmful Effect of Co-worker Social Undermining on Disengagement and Employee Attitudes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(2), pages 355-368, November.
    9. Junjie Peng & Sarminah Samad & Ubaldo Comite & Naveed Ahmad & Heesup Han & Antonio Ariza-Montes & Alejandro Vega-Muñoz, 2022. "Environmentally Specific Servant Leadership and Employees’ Energy-Specific Pro-Environmental Behavior: Evidence from Healthcare Sector of a Developing Economy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-16, June.
    10. Qinghua Fu & Jacob Cherian & Naveed Ahmad & Miklas Scholz & Sarminah Samad & Ubaldo Comite, 2022. "An Inclusive Leadership Framework to Foster Employee Creativity in the Healthcare Sector: The Role of Psychological Safety and Polychronicity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-13, April.
    11. Matthew J. Quade & Sara J. Perry & Emily M. Hunter, 2019. "Boundary Conditions of Ethical Leadership: Exploring Supervisor-Induced and Job Hindrance Stress as Potential Inhibitors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(4), pages 1165-1184, September.
    12. Yuwei Deng & Jacob Cherian & Naveed Ahmad & Miklas Scholz & Sarminah Samad, 2022. "Conceptualizing the Role of Target-Specific Environmental Transformational Leadership between Corporate Social Responsibility and Pro-Environmental Behaviors of Hospital Employees," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-15, March.
    13. Misbah Hayat Bhatti & Umair Akram & Muhammad Hasnat Bhatti & Hassan Rasool & Xin Su, 2020. "Unraveling the Effects of Ethical Leadership on Knowledge Sharing: The Mediating Roles of Subjective Well-Being and Social Media in the Hotel Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-20, October.
    14. Shenjiang Mo & Junqi Shi, 2017. "Linking Ethical Leadership to Employee Burnout, Workplace Deviance and Performance: Testing the Mediating Roles of Trust in Leader and Surface Acting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 293-303, August.
    15. Muel Kaptein, 2019. "The Moral Entrepreneur: A New Component of Ethical Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 1135-1150, June.
    16. Emmanuel Osafo & Amy Paros & Robert M. Yawson, 2021. "Valence–Instrumentality–Expectancy Model of Motivation as an Alternative Model for Examining Ethical Leadership Behaviors," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, June.
    17. Naveed Ahmad & Aqeel Ahmad & Irfan Siddique, 2024. "Beyond self‐interest: how altruistic values and human emotions drive brand advocacy in hospitality consumers through corporate social responsibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(3), pages 2439-2453, May.
    18. Kalra, Ashish & Briggs, Elten & Schrock, Wyatt, 2023. "Exploring the synergistic role of ethical leadership and sales control systems on salesperson social media use and sales performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    19. Jesse T. Vullinghs & Annebel H. B. Hoogh & Deanne N. Den Hartog & Corine Boon, 2020. "Ethical and Passive Leadership and Their Joint Relationships with Burnout via Role Clarity and Role Overload," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(4), pages 719-733, September.
    20. Adnan ul Haque & Fred A. Yamoah, 2021. "The Role of Ethical Leadership in Managing Occupational Stress to Promote Innovative Work Behaviour: A Cross-Cultural Management Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-19, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:20:p:13102-:d:939770. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.