The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Exploring compassionate managerial leadership style in reducing employee stress level during COVID-19 crisis: the case of Nigeria

Exploring compassionate managerial leadership style in reducing employee stress level during COVID-19 crisis: the case of Nigeria
Exploring compassionate managerial leadership style in reducing employee stress level during COVID-19 crisis: the case of Nigeria
Purpose: this study explores how compassionate managerial leadership style can help to mitigate workplace stressors and alleviate stress experiences among employees — particularly in an extreme situation, such as the current global COVID-19 pandemic. The study's context is Nigeria's banking, manufacturing and healthcare sectors, which have a history of high employee stress levels.

Design/methodology/approach: using a qualitative, interpretive methodology, the study adopts the thematic analysis process (TAP) to draw and analyse data from semi-structured telephone interviews with 10 banking, 11 manufacturing and 9 frontline healthcare workers in Nigeria.

Findings: it was found that a compassionate managerial leadership can drive a considerate response to employees' “fear of job (in)security”, “healthcare risk” and concerns about “work overload, underpayment and delayed payment”, which respondents considered to be some of the key causes of increased stress among employees during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Research limitations/implications: the study is limited to exploring the relationship between compassionate managerial leadership and an organisation's ability to manage employee stress in the COVID-19 situation, using 30 samples from organisations operating in three Nigerian cities and sectors. Future studies may involve more Nigerian cities, sectors and samples. It may also possibly include quantitative combination to allow generalisation of findings.

Practical implications: in order to survive in extreme situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, organisations are forced to take drastic and often managerialist-driven work measures which can trigger high stress levels, low productivity and absenteeism among employees. Hence, organisations would benefit from implementing compassion-driven policies that are more inclusive and responsive to the workplace stressors facing employees.

Originality/value: employee stress has been widely explored in many areas, including definitions, stressors, strains, possible interventions and coping strategies. There remains, however, a dearth of scholarship on how management-leadership compassion can help to reduce employee stress levels in extreme conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic — particularly in emerging economies.
Oruh, Emeka Smart
326be4af-a541-425d-9d60-1e915e49d8a0
Mordi, Chima
a71b7673-bd74-4853-9011-ef2e112770a3
Dibia, Chianu Harmony
879bee33-f204-4823-94df-badb53dd4852
Ajonbadi, Hakeem Adeniyi
0a45e6d2-483a-4997-99cc-26c3c2228b78
Oruh, Emeka Smart
326be4af-a541-425d-9d60-1e915e49d8a0
Mordi, Chima
a71b7673-bd74-4853-9011-ef2e112770a3
Dibia, Chianu Harmony
879bee33-f204-4823-94df-badb53dd4852
Ajonbadi, Hakeem Adeniyi
0a45e6d2-483a-4997-99cc-26c3c2228b78

Oruh, Emeka Smart, Mordi, Chima, Dibia, Chianu Harmony and Ajonbadi, Hakeem Adeniyi (2021) Exploring compassionate managerial leadership style in reducing employee stress level during COVID-19 crisis: the case of Nigeria. Employee Relations: The International Journal, 43 (6). (doi:10.1108/ER-06-2020-0302).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Purpose: this study explores how compassionate managerial leadership style can help to mitigate workplace stressors and alleviate stress experiences among employees — particularly in an extreme situation, such as the current global COVID-19 pandemic. The study's context is Nigeria's banking, manufacturing and healthcare sectors, which have a history of high employee stress levels.

Design/methodology/approach: using a qualitative, interpretive methodology, the study adopts the thematic analysis process (TAP) to draw and analyse data from semi-structured telephone interviews with 10 banking, 11 manufacturing and 9 frontline healthcare workers in Nigeria.

Findings: it was found that a compassionate managerial leadership can drive a considerate response to employees' “fear of job (in)security”, “healthcare risk” and concerns about “work overload, underpayment and delayed payment”, which respondents considered to be some of the key causes of increased stress among employees during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Research limitations/implications: the study is limited to exploring the relationship between compassionate managerial leadership and an organisation's ability to manage employee stress in the COVID-19 situation, using 30 samples from organisations operating in three Nigerian cities and sectors. Future studies may involve more Nigerian cities, sectors and samples. It may also possibly include quantitative combination to allow generalisation of findings.

Practical implications: in order to survive in extreme situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, organisations are forced to take drastic and often managerialist-driven work measures which can trigger high stress levels, low productivity and absenteeism among employees. Hence, organisations would benefit from implementing compassion-driven policies that are more inclusive and responsive to the workplace stressors facing employees.

Originality/value: employee stress has been widely explored in many areas, including definitions, stressors, strains, possible interventions and coping strategies. There remains, however, a dearth of scholarship on how management-leadership compassion can help to reduce employee stress levels in extreme conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic — particularly in emerging economies.

Text
10-1108_ER-06-2020-0302 - Version of Record
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (729kB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 8 February 2021
e-pub ahead of print date: 30 April 2021
Published date: 1 October 2021

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 474957
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/474957
PURE UUID: c909164e-d2e2-4942-97ab-978d5a470452
ORCID for Chianu Harmony Dibia: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0672-4491

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 07 Mar 2023 17:45
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:13

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Emeka Smart Oruh
Author: Chima Mordi
Author: Chianu Harmony Dibia ORCID iD
Author: Hakeem Adeniyi Ajonbadi

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×