Leading during change: the effects of leader behavior on sickness absence in a Norwegian health trust

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Vilde Hoff Bernstrøm¹  Lars Erik Kjekshus¹ 

[1] Department of Health Management and Health Economics, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, Forskningsveien 3a, 0373, Oslo, Norway;

关键词: Sickness absence;    Leadership;    Social support;    Loyalty;    Problem confrontation;    Negative leader behavior;    Task monitoring;    Organizational change;    Restructuring;    Health care;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-12-799

 received in 2011-11-15, accepted in 2012-09-01,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundOrganizational change often leads to negative employee outcomes such as increased absence. Because change is also often inevitable, it is important to know how these negative outcomes could be reduced. This study investigates how the line manager’s behavior relates to sickness absence in a Norwegian health trust during major restructuring.MethodsLeader behavior was measured by questionnaire, where employees assessed their line manager’s behavior (N = 1008; response rate 40%). Data on sickness absence were provided at department level (N = 35) and were measured at two times. Analyses were primarily conducted using linear regression; leader behavior was aggregated and weighted by department size.ResultsThe results show a relationship between several leader behaviors and sickness absence. The line managers’ display of loyalty to their superiors was related to higher sickness absence; whereas task monitoring was related to lower absence. Social support was related to higher sickness absence. However, the effect of social support was no longer significant when the line manager also displayed high levels of problem confrontation.ConclusionsThe findings clearly support the line manager’s importance for employee sickness absence during organizational change. We conclude that more awareness concerning the manager’s role in change processes is needed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Bernstrøm and Kjekshus; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012