When violence meets leadership: Leadership climate as a buffer in the link between violence, harmful alcohol use, and burnout among healthcare workers in Sweden.
A supportive leadership climate may help reduce the negative impacts of workplace violence on harmful alcohol use and burnout among healthcare workers.
Where it sits
this study against the rest of the eloralintide corpusSummary and findings
This study examined the role of leadership climate in moderating the effects of workplace violence on harmful alcohol use and burnout among healthcare workers in Sweden. The sample included 2446 healthcare workers, and the analysis was conducted using two-wave panel data. Findings suggest that a supportive leadership climate may buffer the negative effects of violence on harmful alcohol use and burnout.
Abstract
<h4>Background</h4>Healthcare workers are frequently exposed to workplace violence (including threats and physical aggression), which may increase the risk of burnout complaints through maladaptive coping behaviours such as harmful alcohol use. Leadership climate may buffer these adverse effects by fostering psychological safety and supportive supervisor-employee interactions. This study examined whether leadership climate moderates the association between violence and harmful alcohol use, whether the indirect association between violence and subsequent burnout via harmful alcohol use depends on leadership climate, and whether these pathways differ between physicians and nurses.<h4>Methods</h4>Two-wave panel data were drawn from the Longitudinal Occupational Health Survey in Healthcare Sweden (LOHHCS). The sample included 2446 healthcare workers. Violence, harmful alcohol use, and leadership climate were assessed at Time 1, while burnout was measured at Time 2. Moderated mediation analyses were conducted using the PROCESS macro.<h4>Results</h4>Violence was positively associated with harmful alcohol use, with this association weakened under stronger leadership climate. The conditional indirect prospective association between violence and later burnout through harmful alcohol use was evident primarily under weaker leadership conditions (b = 0.007, 95% CI [0.001, 0.016]) and nonsignificant under moderate or strong leadership. Formal tests did not indicate statistically significant differences between professional groups.<h4>Conclusions</h4>A supportive leadership climate may play a modest protective role in the associations between violence and harmful alcohol use and subsequent burnout. Despite small effect sizes and limited causal inference, consistency with theory suggests that leadership climate may play a meaningful protective role in violence-exposed healthcare environments.<h4>Registration</h4>Swedish Occupational and Education Registries.
Background
This paper addresses the impact of workplace violence on healthcare workers, specifically focusing on its relationship with harmful alcohol use and burnout. Prior research has established that exposure to violence can lead to maladaptive coping mechanisms, including substance use. Understanding the moderating role of leadership climate is crucial, as it may provide insights into how to mitigate these adverse effects in healthcare settings.
Methods
The study utilized two-wave panel data from the Longitudinal Occupational Health Survey in Healthcare Sweden (LOHHCS). The sample consisted of 2446 healthcare workers, with assessments of violence, harmful alcohol use, and leadership climate conducted at Time 1, while burnout was measured at Time 2. Moderated mediation analyses were performed using the PROCESS macro to evaluate the relationships.
Results
Violence was positively associated with harmful alcohol use, with the association being weakened under stronger leadership climate. The conditional indirect prospective association between violence and later burnout through harmful alcohol use was significant under weaker leadership conditions (b = 0.007, 95% CI [0.001, 0.016]) but nonsignificant under moderate or strong leadership.
Interpretation
The findings suggest that while leadership climate may provide a protective buffer against the negative effects of workplace violence, the effect sizes are small and may not be clinically meaningful. The lack of statistically significant differences between professional groups indicates that the moderating effects of leadership climate may be consistent across various healthcare roles. However, the observational design limits the ability to draw causal conclusions.
Key findings
- Violence was positively associated with harmful alcohol use.
- The association between violence and harmful alcohol use was weakened under stronger leadership climate.
- The conditional indirect prospective association between violence and later burnout through harmful alcohol use was evident primarily under weaker leadership conditions (b = 0.007, 95% CI [0.001, 0.016]).
- The association was nonsignificant under moderate or strong leadership.
- Formal tests did not indicate statistically significant differences between professional groups.
Limitations
- Effect sizes were small.
- Limited causal inference due to observational design.
- Single-country study may limit generalizability.
- No significant differences between professional groups.