Laissez-faire leadership and employee well-being: the contribution of perceived supervisor organizational status

Abstract

ABSTRACT The role of leaders has been increasingly studied in connection to employee well-being. However, little attention has been given to the effect of passive forms of leadership such as laissez-faire leadership. Two studies examined the effects of laissez-faire leadership on positive and negative aspects of employee psychological well-being. Due to its passive nature, we expected laissez-faire leadership to relate to reduced positive mental health and more depressive symptoms among employees. Moreover, we predicted these relations to be exacerbated when supervisors are perceived to hold a high organizational status. Results from a three-wave time-lagged study (Study 1: N = 608) indicated that laissez-faire leadership was associated with reduced positive mental health and more depressive symptoms over time and provided partial support for the moderating role of perceived supervisor organizational status. Study 2 was a vignette experiment (N = 190) that examined the effects of laissez-faire leadership, constructive leadership, and abusive supervision conditions on employee well-being. Results indicated that in the laissez-faire leadership condition employee well-being was worse than in the constructive leadership condition but better than in the abusive supervision condition. We discuss the implications of these results for research on laissez-faire leadership and psychological well-being.