Authoritarian leadership and nurse presenteeism: the role of workload and leader identification.

BACKGROUND: Nurses' health in the workplace is crucial for ensuring the quality of healthcare. However, presenteeism, the behavior of working in a state of ill health, is widespread in the nursing industry. Considering that the origin of authoritarian leadership and the prevalence of presenteeism are inseparable from Chinese workplace culture, this study aimed to explore the impact and mechanism of authoritarian leadership on presenteeism. METHODS: A total of 528 nurses were recruited from four grade III level A hospitals in the present survey, which was distributed across 98 nursing teams. Participants were required to complete self-report measures on authoritarian leadership, presenteeism, workload, and leader identification. Description, correlation, and multilevel linear regressions were applied for data analysis. RESULTS: The present study found that presenteeism was significantly related to participants' demographic characteristics, such as marital status, educational level, technological title, and general health. There was a positive relationship between authoritarian leadership and presenteeism, and workload acted as a mediator in authoritarian leadership and presenteeism. Furthermore, leader identification moderated the relationship between authoritarian leadership and workload. When nurses were under high leader identification, the positive impact of authoritarian leadership on workload was reinforced. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed the potential antecedents and mechanisms of nurse presenteeism from the perspective of workplace culture. Results indicated that the excessive authoritarianism of leaders and the heavy workload faced by nurses may be the significant triggers for nurses' presenteeism. The role of leader identification is not always protective, which may heighten the relationship between dark leadership and its outcomes. These observations contribute to enriching research on presenteeism and authoritarian leadership, and provide valuable insights for cultivating healthy working behaviors.

Leaders' ambition and followers' cheating behavior: The role of performance pressure and leader identification.

Purpose: We seek to understand why and how leaders' actions that are positive from organizational perspectives, drive to engage employees in cheating behaviors. Design/methodology/approach: The proposed mediated moderation model was tested in two separate studies, study 1 and study 2, with data collected from police officers and employees of Islamic banking respectively, and then analyzed with Mplus for random coefficient models for direct effects, indirect effects, and for mediated moderation. Findings: It was found that leaders' ambitions may enhance performance pressure on the subordinates, which in turn promotes their cheating behavior. Overall, we found that the traditional view of ambition theory only emphasizes good mechanisms such as motivation. However, to integrate with a social identity perspective, ambition would also cause pressure and pressure rather than motivation. Additionally, leaders' ambitions are more strongly and positively related to the performance pressure and cheating behaviors of employees when subordinates also have high leader identification. The findings of this research suggested that leaders' positive workplace behavior could also spawn subordinates' unethical behaviors. Practical implications: Through this research, we can help policymakers understand that leaders' positive desire in general and ambition, in particular, may not be necessarily associated with subordinates' positive behaviors. Our results revealed that internalized with performance pressure, the leaders' ambition is associated with subordinates' cheating behavior. The findings of this research will help policymakers understand what might be promoting unethical behavior of employees. The cheating behavior of employees is not a singular level phenomenon of subordinates, it could also be triggered by contextual factors. Therefore, in developing policies for reducing the chance of cheating at work, the policymakers should also focus on the contextual factors that might be promoting cheating. Originality/value: Ambitious leaders tend to demonstrate high performance, also, performance pressure literature focuses efforts of the employees toward high performance. The dark side of these lines of researches is still underexplored. We shifted the conventional focus of understanding to the positive side of ambition and performance pressure by explaining the potential cost in the form of employees' enhanced cheating behavior. The interplay between the relationship between leaders' ambition and subordinates' perception of leader identification also enhanced our understating about the boundary condition of the relationship between leaders' ambition, performance pressure, and cheating behavior of subordinates.

A Novel Code Team Leader Card to Improve Leader Identification.

Prompt and clear code team leader identification is vital in effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and pediatric trainees often have limited experience in these scenarios. This project sought to develop a tangible object that provided clear leader identification and assisted in code team management and simulated team training. A Code Team Leader Card (CTLC) was designed to provide clear leader identification while simultaneously providing a cognitive aid via integration of pediatric advanced life support (PALS) algorithms. Additionally, CTLC served to occupy the leader's hands to limit their ability to intervene on procedural tasks. The CTLC was incorporated into pediatric resident simulation training, and pre- and postintervention survey data were analyzed. Analysis particularly focused on whether "a leader was clearly identified by all team members." The relationship between CTLC implementation and consistent leader recognition was evaluated using chi-squared test, and secondary qualitative data were obtained via debriefing sessions. Pediatric residents completed 131 surveys prior to CTLC implementation and 41 surveys after implementation. Consistent code team leader recognition increased significantly from 61.8% (81 of 131) pre-CTLC to 80.5% (33 of 41) after introduction of CTLC (P=0.027). Participants commented on the benefits of CTLC during debriefing sessions. Use of a CTLC significantly improved leader recognition during simulated CPR. Inclusion of PALS algorithms led to normalization and increased utilization of these adjunct materials. The CTLC provided a secondary benefit of occupying the leader's hands, thereby allowing that person to focus on overseeing the team rather than assisting with procedural tasks.

The Contagion of Unethical Pro-organizational Behavior: From Leaders to Followers.

Unethical pro-organizational behavior is a common phenomenon in businesses, and one that can cause great damage to them as well as to wider society. Although prior studies have investigated why individuals engage in unethical pro-organizational behavior, little research has been undertaken into why such behavior might be commonplace in organizations. The present study focuses on the downstream contagion of unethical pro-organizational behavior from leaders to followers. Drawing on social identity theory, we consider why leaders' unethical pro-organizational behavior brings about corresponding behavior in their employees. Moreover, we predict that leader identification and moral identity will moderate this relationship. Using a time-lag study design, we collected a sample of 227 multisource time-lagged data with which to test our hypotheses. The results show that there is a significant positive relationship between leaders' and employees' unethical pro-organizational behavior, and that this relationship is stronger when employees have higher leader identification and lower moral identity levels. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed in this paper, as are the limitations of the study.