An analysis of stress burnout and work engagement of paternalistic leadership using job demand-resource (JD-R) model
Authors: Dhaneesh R. , Iswarya V.S. , Anand S.T. 
Published: January 2025

Purpose

A paternalistic employer is one that looks down on its employees and expects them to do everything their way. On the other hand, the job demand-resource (JD-R) model, developed by Arnold Bakker and Evangelia Demerouti, has been widely used in the last decade to characterize the requirements and tools that an individual must have in order to do a task. Its inception occurred in 2006. The JD-R model is not widely utilised as a framework for managing workers, but it has been employed by select executives. This research used the JD-R model to examine the effects of benign, authoritarian and moral paternalistic leadership styles on job demands, sense of purpose, engagement and stress burnout among workers.

Design/methodology/approach

A structured questionnaire was framed using the literature of the JD-R model with the intention of being applied by a paternalistic leader in the work environment to meet the job demand, resource, work engagement and stress burnout of the employees. The study was conducted with 251 employees (respondents) from various sectors with a mean age of 31.58, of whom 57.8% were female and 42.2% were male. The collected data was analysed using structural equation modelling and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences for the correlation matrix.

Findings

Authoritarian leaders cause stress and burnout due to emotional demands rather than cognitive demands, while benevolent leaders increase engagement and minimize stress and burnout via meaningful work rather than influence at work, according to the study. Finally, moral leadership does not increase workers’ demands for employment or resources.

Originality/value

One of the significant practical consequences of this study’s findings is the importance of leaders in encouraging staff development. Why? Because businesses still have a lot of room to grow in terms of leadership development possibilities. Dinh et al. (2014) state that most organisations are very focused on the issue of how and which leadership traits should be used inside. Good leadership should be a top priority for companies that want their employees to enjoy coming to work each day (Chan, 2017). One of the aims of a talent practitioner might be to establish a culture where leaders exhibit compassion and followers are valued as much as family. Leaders often act as mentors to their employees, who may go to them for guidance or look up to them while they are going through tough times. Workers will experience less stress and burnout and have a more positive attitude about their employment as a result of increased engagement in their work. One way to deal with the positive interactions caused by authoritarian leadership is to provide inclusive leadership training or have one-on-one meetings with leaders to discuss how they may make positive use of their position and leadership power within the team or organisation. We know that there are a lot of rules and bosses in this culture, but we still believe it is really important for leaders to be careful not to harm their employees. This might ensure that workers’ well-being is considered. According to Gupta and Shaheen (2017), this approach has the potential to break the loop of high employee turnover intentions and the enormous expenses associated with retaining, retraining and recruiting new personnel. Consequently, companies may prioritise the positive relationships that develop under paternalistic management styles over those that are characterised by authoritarian leadership.