When Bosses Are Burned Out: Psychosocial Safety Climate and Its Effect on Managerial Quality

Abstract

In various countries, national standards exist to reduce the financial burden of occupational health, create healthier workplaces, and promote well-being. In Quebec specifically, the Healthy Enterprise standard comprises different areas of intervention, including management practices relating to psychosocial risks. Managers play an important role in employees’ exposure to psychosocial constraints (low decision latitude, low social support, high job demands, or low rewards). However, little is known about what goes into their decision to adopt managerial practices that are conducive to their employees’ health (managerial quality). This prospective study was conducted in three organizations involved in a certification process to become a Healthy Enterprise. The surveyed participants included a sample of managers (N = 105). Using MPlus, we conducted path analyses to evaluate the mediating role line managers’ burnout plays between the psychosocial safety climate (PSC) and managerial quality. The results indicated that PSC at T1 (Time 1) was associated with burnout at T1. PSC at T1 was also indirectly associated with lower managerial quality at T2 (Time 2). Understanding the impact of line managers’ burnout on enacted managerial quality is important given their effect on followers’ health.