Supportive Leadership Training Effects on Employee Social and Hedonic Well-Being: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

Drawing on conservation of resources theory, we developed and evaluated a supportive leadership training (SLT) intervention designed to teach leaders ways to be supportive of their employees. Given the important role of supportive leaders in helping employees deal with excessive workloads, we theorized that the beneficial intervention effects on employee well-being would be particularly evident for employees who perceive higher levels of quantitative and qualitative workloads prior to the intervention. Using a cluster randomized controlled field trial, we tested the effects of the SLT on employee social well-being in terms of leader-member exchange (LMX) quality and employee hedonic well-being, including positive affective well-being, emotional exhaustion, and job satisfaction. The participants in the training were directors of childcare centers in Germany. To rigorously evaluate the intervention effects at the employee level, we collected survey data at baseline, 1 month postintervention, and 6 months postintervention, and we used an intent-to-treat approach to analyze the data. A total of 496 employees from 77 childcare centers provided data at baseline, of whom 266 and 226 employees participated in the 1-month and 6-month surveys, respectively. Linear mixed-effects models showed that the effectiveness of the intervention in terms of LMX quality and emotional exhaustion varied depending on the employees' baseline perceptions of quantitative workloads, such that employees with higher quantitative workloads benefited more from the SLT. The findings of this study improve the understanding of the types of outcomes of SLT and contribute to clarifying for whom SLT is effective.