Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Seewartenstr. 10, 20459, Hamburg, Germany.
BMC Public Health. 2024 May 17;24(1):1338. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-18800-7.
Health-oriented leadership (HoL) has a positive impact on health- and work-related outcomes of employees in face-to-face settings. Increased digitization during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to many changes and increased job demands. According to current state of research, HoL in virtual teamwork is insufficiently researched. The aim of the study is to examine the experiences of virtual leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic and to identify preconditions and preventive measures for promoting HoL.
Using a qualitative study design, semi-structured, guide-based telephone interviews were conducted with 16 German virtual leaders between May and July 2021. The collected data were inductively analyzed and interpreted using qualitative content analysis according to Mayring. Explorative analyses of differences between leaders with and without pre-pandemic experiences with virtual leadership were made.
Results indicated that leaders, regardless of pre-pandemic experiences with virtual leadership, faced diverse challenges in implementing HoL in virtual teamwork during the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual leaders perceived personal preconditions (e.g., leaders' characteristics or behaviors), organizational preconditions (support by management or open-minded corporate culture), social preconditions (e.g., social support by team) and technical preconditions (e.g., sufficient technical equipment) as conducive to implementation of HoL. Almost all leaders with pre-pandemic experience identified a need for structural preventive measures, whereas almost all leaders without pre-pandemic experience reported a need for behavioral preventive measures in order to promote HoL in virtual teams.
This study suggests that implementing HoL in virtual teamwork is challenging, complex and requires adjustments in leadership behavior. Thereby, the study provides initial empirical findings for a holistic approach to HoL implementation in virtual teams, considering beneficial multilevel preconditions. Due to a limited generalization of present results, longitudinal and interventional studies will be necessary for the analysis of causal relationships in future research. In particular, a holistic research perspective in order to understand the complex, contextual interdependencies of leadership is recommended. In practice, based on a differentiated needs analysis, structural preventive measures for a holistic organizational development as well as behavioral preventive measures for ongoing personnel development are recommended.
面向健康的领导力（HoL）对面对面环境中员工的健康和工作相关结果有积极影响。在 COVID-19 大流行期间，数字化程度的提高导致了许多变化和工作需求的增加。根据当前的研究现状，虚拟团队合作中的 HoL 研究还不够充分。本研究的目的是考察 COVID-19 大流行期间虚拟领导者的经验，并确定促进 HoL 的前提条件和预防措施。
使用定性研究设计，于 2021 年 5 月至 7 月期间对 16 名德国虚拟领导者进行了基于半结构式指南的电话访谈。使用定性内容分析（Mayring）对收集的数据进行归纳分析和解释。对有和没有 COVID-19 大流行期间虚拟领导力经验的领导者之间的差异进行了探索性分析。
结果表明，领导者无论是否有 COVID-19 大流行期间虚拟领导力的经验，在 COVID-19 大流行期间在虚拟团队合作中实施 HoL 都面临着各种挑战。虚拟领导者认为个人前提条件（例如，领导者的特征或行为）、组织前提条件（管理层的支持或开放的企业文化）、社会前提条件（例如，团队的社会支持）和技术前提条件（例如，充足的技术设备）有利于 HoL 的实施。几乎所有有 COVID-19 大流行经验的领导者都认为需要采取结构性预防措施，而几乎所有没有 COVID-19 大流行经验的领导者都报告说，为了在虚拟团队中促进 HoL，需要采取行为预防措施。
本研究表明，在虚拟团队合作中实施 HoL 具有挑战性、复杂性，需要调整领导行为。因此，本研究为在虚拟团队中实施 HoL 的整体方法提供了初步的实证发现，考虑了有益的多层次前提条件。由于目前结果的推广有限，未来研究需要进行纵向和干预研究，以分析因果关系。特别是，建议采用整体研究视角，以了解领导力的复杂、背景相互依存关系。在实践中，根据差异化的需求分析，建议采取结构性预防措施进行全面的组织发展，以及采取行为预防措施进行持续的人员发展。
