The dark side of empowering leadership: to what extent is the relationship between empowering leadership and work stress of employees moderated by leader trust, and mediated by job autonomy?
Keywords
Loading...
Authors
Issue Date
2025-07-08
Language
en
Document type
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Title
ISSN
Volume
Issue
Startpage
Endpage
DOI
Abstract
A decline in mental health is a trend and therefore also a major concern in the
Netherlands. Recent studies identify work stress as a major factor in stress among adults and a
cause of mental breakdown. While empowering leadership is often associated with positive
employee outcomes, such as increased motivation, other studies suggest that empowering
leadership may also contribute to negative effects, including work stress. This study aims to
gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between empowering leadership and work
stress, especially by studying the potential dark side of empowering leadership. As well as
studying the relationship between empowering leadership and work stress, through the
moderating role of leader trust and the mediating role of job autonomy.
The leader-member exchange theory is used as a theoretical framework, assuming that
the interpersonal relationship may be an explanatory factor.
This study contributes to the literature by not looking at the positive side of empowering
leadership but at the possible negative effects on work stress. Data were collected through a
cross-sectional survey of 333 respondents, including individual employees and dyads
(supervisor and employee). The results indicate that empowering leadership significantly
increases job autonomy, however, it does not have a direct or mediated effect on work stress.
Furthermore, leader trust did not significantly moderate the relationship between empowering
leadership and work stress or job autonomy. These findings suggest that while empowering
leadership increases job autonomy, its effect on work stress may be more complex. Therefore,
further research is needed to explore the contextual factors influencing the dark side of
empowering leadership.
Description
Citation
Supervisor
Faculty
Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen