Leadership quality: a factor important for social capital in healthcare organizations
Journal of Health Organization and Management
ISSN: 1477-7266
Article publication date: 10 April 2017
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relation between leadership and social capital and what qualities of leadership are important for social capital among employees in hospital settings over time.
Design/methodology/approach
A cohort of employees in hospitals answered a questionnaire at three occasions. Five small (approx. 100-bed) or mid-sized (approx. 500-bed) hospitals were included. The response rate was 54 percent at baseline (n=865), 59 percent at one-year follow-up (n=908) and 67 percent at two-year follow-up (n=632).
Findings
Repeated measures over time showed differences between groups in levels of social capital with respect to levels of leadership quality. Relation-oriented leadership had the strongest association with social capital. There was evidence that leadership was associated with social capital over time and that different kinds of leadership qualities were associated with social capital.
Research limitations/implications
This study conducted and analyzed quantitative data, and therefore, there is no knowledge of managers’ or employees’ own perceptions in this study. However, it would be interesting to compare managers’ decreased and increased leadership quality and how such differences affect social capital over time.
Practical implications
The findings feature the possibility for healthcare leaders to build high quality leadership as an important resource for social capital, by using different leadership orientations under different circumstances.
Originality/value
The paper showed that leadership was an important factor for building social capital and that different leadership qualities have different importance with respect to certain circumstances.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Conflicts of interest: none declared.
Ethical approval: the study was approved by the Central Ethical Review Board at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden (2012/94-31/5).
The authors are grateful to AFA Insurance (120321) for funding this study. AFA Insurance supports research and development in occupational health in private industry, municipalities and county councils.
Citation
Strömgren, M., Eriksson, A., Ahlstrom, L., Bergman, D.K. and Dellve, L. (2017), "Leadership quality: a factor important for social capital in healthcare organizations", Journal of Health Organization and Management, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 175-191. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-12-2016-0246
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited