Impacts of leadership styles in health and social services: A case from Quebec exploring relationships between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership

ABSTRACT

Demographic trends of the last few decades have had a strong impact on Western societies and their healthcare systems. In recent times, an overhaul of Quebec’s health and social services network has created numerous challenges for those charged with implementing the projected reforms. Accordingly, the leadership style of these actors could represent a lever for driving effective change. The present study was conducted among 171 employees working closely with executive directors (ED) of the health and social services network that were affected by the mergers of member institutions. These employees evaluated the emotional intelligence and transformational leadership of their ED, thus allowing us to explore the impact of ED leadership style on employee organizational behaviors during organizational changes. Results from a path analysis indicate that emotional intelligence is positively related to transformational leadership, with the latter competency linking to the perception of organizational justice and job satisfaction. Results further revealed other indirect benefits of working under executive directors who display higher emotional intelligence and transformational leadership, such as higher employee commitment and motivation, and lower stress and exhaustion. Overall, this study reinforces the idea that emotional intelligence and transformational leadership are essential competencies for the successful implementation of reforms in the healthcare system.

KEYWORDS:

• Emotional intelligence
• transformational leadership
• implementation of change
• health management
• organizational justice
• positive workplace behaviors
• executive directors of healthcare institutions

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank La Capitale mutuelle de l’administration publique for its financial support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Natalie Rinfret received a Ph.D. in social psychology from Ottawa University and pursued post-doctoral studies in human motivation at the University of Quebec in Montreal. She is Professor at the National School of Public Administration, since 1991. She is chairholder of La Capitale Chair in leadership in the public sector since 2005. She has an extensive and varied backgroung in organizational behavior. Dr Rinfret’s research interests include attitude toward women as managers, downsizing and employees’ mental health, managers’ turnover, leadership style and organizational climate. She served as consultant to several public organizations and she is the recipient of multiple awards.

Joelle Laplante was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Ottawa at the time of this study. She holds a Ph.D in Social Psychology from the University of Ottawa and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at McGill University, where her research focused on individuals working or studying in non-traditional domains. She is now a Defence Scientist at the Department of National Defence (Canada) working on the recruitment and retention of military personnel.

Marie Claude Lagacé has been working since September 2016 as the CEO of CLIPP, a neutral and wholly non-partisan hub dedicated to social innovation and knowledge translation. An associate Professor at UQAM’s Department of Social and Public communication and a valued member of the Committee of the Faculté d’éducation permamente of University of Montreal, Marie Claude is the author of more than fifty articles, book chapters, along with scientific and professional papers. Her community commitment extends to her volunteer work on multiple networks and boards of directors such as QuebecInnove, Wisdom2Action and Réseau québécois en innovation sociale.

Carl Deschamps is a Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Ottawa where he works with public service organizations to understand the impacts of performance reforms and performance management systems. His work relies on performance data to understand organizational behavior, and on organizational behavior to understand performance data.

Catherine Privé is president and CEO of Alia Consulting and has been a Partner for over 20 years. She is a social psychologist, owner of a master’s degree in Public Administration (ENAP), specialized in organizational analysis and development. As president, she strives to broaden the company’s profile and visibility. Along with the practice managers, she contributes to the development of the firm’s areas of expertise. As head of the business development team, she ensures that the proposed approaches meet company needs. She also carries out strategic interventions for clients such as Hydro-Québec, Aéroports de Montréal, Énergir, L3 MAS, Deschênes, and several government agencies.

Additional information

Funding

We would like to thank La Capitale mutuelle de l’administration publique for its financial support.