Der Einfluss des Führungsverhaltens auf die Gesundheit von Mitarbeitern gewinnt in den letzten Jahren sowohl in der Forschung als auch in der betrieblichen Praxis zunehmend an Aufmerksamkeit. Gegenstand der vorliegenden Studie ist die Entwicklung und Validierung eines Instruments zur Messung gesundheits- und entwicklungsförderlichen Führungsverhaltens. Als konzeptionelle Grundlage dient ein integratives Rahmenmodell, das (1) Führung und Wohlbefinden sowie (2) Arbeitsbedingungen und Wohlbefinden miteinander in Beziehung setzt. Dieses Instrument wurde anhand einer Stichprobe von 822 Beschäftigten validiert. Die Skalenstruktur konnte mittels konfirmatorischer Faktorenanalyse bestätigt werden. Die Skalen zeigen gute psychometrische Kennwerte. Zusammenhangsanalysen mit Befindensvariablen weisen auf eine gute Kriteriumsvalidität hin. Die überprüfung der inkrementellen Validität bekräftigt die Bedeutsamkeit der neu entwickelten Führungskonstrukte für das Befinden der Mitarbeiter.
Decades of research into leadership effectiveness paid little attention to subordinates’ health as a relevant outcome. There is now, however, growing interest in the impact of leadership behavior on employees’ health and well-being. The consensus in research literature is that leaders affect employees’ well-being in the workplace, but it remains unclear to what extent and in what way. There is, therefore, a need to clarify the characteristics of health-promoting leadership behavior. Occupational stress research identified a wide variety of work characteristics affecting employees’ well-being. They can be categorised as demands, task requirements and resources in the workplace. Current research into the relationship between transformational leadership and subordinates’ well-being found that different work characteristics — for example, meaningfulness, role clarity, opportunities for development — mediate this relationship. A number of researchers point out the impact of leadership behavior on the perceived work characteristics relevant to employees’ well-being. These findings suggest that future research would benefit from developing a framework that combines (1) research on leadership and well-being, and on (2) work characteristics and well-being. This focus requires a stronger connection between occupational stress research and leadership research. Different researchers emphazise the need to close the gap between these two domains regarding employee well-being. Previous research focused solely on either an occupational stress- or a leadership-perspective. A differentiated assessment of leaders’ impact on work characteristics is impossible with the existing leadership measures. The knowledge gained with the existing leadership concepts regarding employee well-being is restricted, and the deduction of concrete health promotion interventions remains difficult. To overcome the limitations of prior research, this study proposes a conceptual framework that bridges leadership- and occupational stress research, to help explain the mechanisms through which leaders affect subordinates’ well-being. This integrative approach builds the foundation of a new survey instrument that assesses health-and development-promoting leadership behavior by measuring leaders’ direct impact on the demands, task requirements and resources of their employees. The aim of this study was to validate the survey instrument. 822 employees assessed their direct supervisors’ behavior. Additionally, data on employees’ well-being were collected. The scale dimensions were tested with confirmatory factor analysis. The leadership scales showed good psychometric properties and substantial correlations with indicators of employees’ well-being. An examination of the leadership scales revealed three underlying higher order factors: demanding leadership, development-oriented leadership and support-oriented leadership. Demanding leadership consists of qualitative and quantitative overload. Development-oriented leadership involves the delegation of complex tasks which require the application of various abilities, as well as showing confidence in employees’ abilities. It also means providing control, for example, concerning task planning, and participation opportunities in decision-making processes. Support-oriented leadership comprises, on the one hand, the allocation of task-related resources, for example, the clarification of duties and responsibilities, transparency of decisions and goals, adequate information, performance feedback and instrumental support. On the other hand, it consists of social resources, for example, recognition, career support, integrity, fairness, conflict management and care. On the basis of the results, a model of health- and development-promoting leadership behavior is presented which helps to clarify the interplay of different leadership behaviors regarding their impact on employee well-being. The study used hierarchical regression analyses to assess the incremental validity of the instrument. The method included Individualised Consideration, a component of Transformational Leadership, which showed the strongest correlations with employees’ well-being in previous studies. The analysis showed that the new leadership factors explain an incremental amount of variance of 10% to 20% in all indicators of well-being compared to Individualized Consideration. The results indicate that these factors constitute relevant characteristics in health-promoting leadership behavior, and provide a valid model for its measurement. In addition, the test of two way interactions revealed moderating effects, stressing the importance of the interplay between different leadership behaviors.