Quality of leadership and presenteeism in health professions education and research: a test of a recovery-based process model with cognitive irritation and impaired sleep as mediators

ABSTRACT

Presenteeism (PRES) includes working while feeling ill and constrained in performance. Compared with absence from work, PRES generates significantly higher cost estimates. Health problems and PRES are related to leadership quality. Hence, research on corporate health management needs to explore why leadership problems (LP) correspond to more frequent PRES.

This study tests recovery after work as an underlying process with cognitive irritation (COGIRR) and sleep problems (SP) as simultaneous mediators and explores three mediation pathways (path one: LP→COGIRR→PRES; path two: LP→SP→PRES; and path three: LP→COGIRR→SP→PRES). Out of 293 employees of a university’s school of health professions in German-speaking Switzerland, 211 completed a questionnaire. LP and PRES were found to be positively related (r(211) = .22, p < .01). The tests of mediation yielded no significant results for path one and two, but the third mediation path LP→COGIRR→SP→PRES was positive and differed significantly from zero (B = 0.83, CI95 = 0.33 to 1.69). According to our results, a recovery-based mediation model fits the empirical self-report data best. These results suggest that occupational health interventions should improve leadership quality to promote recovery after work in order to increase health and productivity by reduced PRES.

KEYWORDS:

• Leadership quality
• academic performance
• recovery from work
• stress
• detachment
• sleep
• presenteeism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.