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Time-lagged relationships between leadership behaviors and psychological distress after a workplace terrorist attack

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Abstract

Purpose

The impact of leadership practices on employee health may be especially evident after extreme events that have physical, psychological, or material consequences for the members of an organization. In this prospective study, we aimed to examine the association between leadership behavior and psychological distress in employees who had experienced a workplace terror attack.

Methods

Ten and 22 months after the 2011 Oslo bombing attack targeting their workplace, ministerial employees (n = 2272) responded to a questionnaire assessing fair, empowering, supportive, and laissez-faire leadership, as well as psychological distress. Cross-sectional and time-lagged associations between the constructs were tested using structural equation modeling.

Results

Cross-sectionally, higher levels of supportive leadership were associated with lower levels of psychological distress. Longitudinally, negative relationships were found between psychological distress and subsequent ratings of fair and empowering leadership.

Conclusions

Supportive leadership was associated with employees’ psychological health after trauma, but seems not to have long-term effects on subsequent psychological distress. Rather, psychological distress may lead the employees to perceive their leaders as more negative across time.

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Acknowledgments

This project has been financially supported by the Norwegian Council of Mental Health and the Norwegian Extra Foundation for Health and Rehabilitation through EXTRA funds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS), 181 Nydalen, 0409, Oslo, Norway

    Marianne Skogbrott Birkeland & Trond Heir

  2. National Institute of Occupational Health, Oslo, Norway

    Morten Birkeland Nielsen & Stein Knardahl

  3. Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Morten Birkeland Nielsen

  4. Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Trond Heir

Authors
  1. Marianne Skogbrott Birkeland
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  2. Morten Birkeland Nielsen
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  3. Stein Knardahl
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  4. Trond Heir
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marianne Skogbrott Birkeland.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Birkeland, M.S., Nielsen, M.B., Knardahl, S. et al. Time-lagged relationships between leadership behaviors and psychological distress after a workplace terrorist attack. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 89, 689–697 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-015-1106-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-015-1106-2

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