IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i7p2207-d337006.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Sense of Power in Alleviating Emotional Exhaustion in Frontline Managers: A Dual Mediation Model

Author

Listed:
  • Song Liu

    (Business School, Sichuan University, 29 Wangjiang Road, Chengdu 610064, China)

  • Hao Zhou

    (Business School, Sichuan University, 29 Wangjiang Road, Chengdu 610064, China)

Abstract

Frontline managers have many responsibilities and often suffer from emotional exhaustion. Drawing on the job demands–resources model, this research proposes and examines a cognitive–affective dual mediation model to explain how frontline managers’ sense of power affects their emotional exhaustion through managerial self-efficacy (cognitive path) and affective commitment (affective path). A cross-sectional study design was employed, and the theoretical model was tested using a three-wave survey among 227 on-the-job Master of Business Administration (MBA) students (52.86% male) in China, who serve as frontline managers in different kinds of organization. The regression and bootstrapping analysis results showed that the frontline managers’ sense of power was significantly negatively related to emotional exhaustion. In other words, the more powerful they felt, the less exhausted they felt. Furthermore, having a sense of power enhanced managerial self-efficacy, which mitigated emotional exhaustion. Sense of power also boosted frontline managers’ affective commitment, alleviating emotional exhaustion. We conclude with a discussion of this study’s theoretical and practical contributions and future research directions.

Suggested Citation

  • Song Liu & Hao Zhou, 2020. "The Role of Sense of Power in Alleviating Emotional Exhaustion in Frontline Managers: A Dual Mediation Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-16, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:7:p:2207-:d:337006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/7/2207/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/7/2207/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xiaoshuang Lin & Zhen Xiong Chen & Herman H. M. Tse & Wu Wei & Chao Ma, 2019. "Why and When Employees Like to Speak up More Under Humble Leaders? The Roles of Personal Sense of Power and Power Distance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(4), pages 937-950, September.
    2. Emilia I. De la Fuente-Solana & Nora Suleiman-Martos & Laura Pradas-Hernández & Jose L. Gomez-Urquiza & Guillermo A. Cañadas-De la Fuente & Luis Albendín-García, 2019. "Prevalence, Related Factors, and Levels of Burnout Syndrome Among Nurses Working in Gynecology and Obstetrics Services: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-16, July.
    3. Hao Zhou & Xinyi Sheng & Yulin He & Xiaoye Qian, 2020. "Ethical Leadership as the Reliever of Frontline Service Employees’ Emotional Exhaustion: A Moderated Mediation Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-13, February.
    4. Fast, Nathanael J. & Sivanathan, Niro & Mayer, Nicole D. & Galinsky, Adam D., 2012. "Power and overconfident decision-making," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 249-260.
    5. Alina de las Mercedes Campos-Puente & María Luisa Avargues-Navarro & Mercedes Borda-Mas & Milagrosa Sánchez-Martín & José M. Aguilar-Parra & Rubén Trigueros, 2019. "Emotional Exhaustion in Housewives and Alzheimer Patients’ Caregivers: Its Effects on Chronic Diseases, Somatic Symptoms and Social Dysfunction," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-11, September.
    6. Ju, Dong & Huang, Mingpeng & Liu, Dong & Qin, Xin & Hu, Qiongjing & Chen, Chen, 2019. "Supervisory consequences of abusive supervision: An investigation of sense of power, managerial self-efficacy, and task-oriented leadership behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 80-95.
    7. Wood, Robert & Bandura, Albert & Bailey, Trevor, 1990. "Mechanisms governing organizational performance in complex decision-making environments," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 181-201, August.
    8. Macinati, Manuela S. & Bozzi, Stefano & Rizzo, Marco Giovanni, 2016. "Budgetary participation and performance: The mediating effects of medical managers’ job engagement and self-efficacy," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(9), pages 1017-1028.
    9. Jing Xiu & Zhenduo Zhang & Zhigang Li & Junwei Zheng, 2019. "How Do Coworkers Aid in Coping with Emotional Exhaustion? An Experience Sampling Method Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-14, August.
    10. Tiffany Trzebiatowski & María del Carmen Triana, 2020. "Family Responsibility Discrimination, Power Distance, and Emotional Exhaustion: When and Why are There Gender Differences in Work–Life Conflict?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 15-29, February.
    11. Guillermo A. Cañadas-De la Fuente & Elena Ortega & Lucia Ramirez-Baena & Emilia I. De la Fuente-Solana & Cristina Vargas & Jose Luis Gómez-Urquiza, 2018. "Gender, Marital Status, and Children as Risk Factors for Burnout in Nurses: A Meta-Analytic Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-13, September.
    12. Huiwen Li & Beibei Yuan & Qingyue Meng & Ichiro Kawachi, 2019. "Contextual Factors Associated with Burnout among Chinese Primary Care Providers: A Multilevel Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-12, September.
    13. Overbeck, Jennifer R. & Park, Bernadette, 2006. "Powerful perceivers, powerless objects: Flexibility of powerholders' social attention," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 227-243, March.
    14. Ángel Abós & Leen Haerens & Javier Sevil-Serrano & Sofie Morbée & José Antonio Julián & Luis García-González, 2019. "Does the Level of Motivation of Physical Education Teachers Matter in Terms of Job Satisfaction and Emotional Exhaustion? A Person-Centered Examination Based on Self-Determination Theory," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-15, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yu, Andrew & Hays, Nicholas A. & Zhao, Emma Y., 2019. "Development of a bipartite measure of social hierarchy: The perceived power and perceived status scales," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 84-104.
    2. D. M. Sachinthanee Dissanayake & Ananda K. L. Jayawardana, 2023. "The impact of personal sense of power on unethical decision-making: a moderated mediation model of love of money motive and power distance orientation," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 50(1), pages 19-34, March.
    3. Nora Suleiman-Martos & Luis Albendín-García & José L. Gómez-Urquiza & Keyla Vargas-Román & Lucia Ramirez-Baena & Elena Ortega-Campos & Emilia I. De La Fuente-Solana, 2020. "Prevalence and Predictors of Burnout in Midwives: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-15, January.
    4. Jose Luis Gómez-Urquiza & Luis Albendín-García & Almudena Velando-Soriano & Elena Ortega-Campos & Lucía Ramírez-Baena & María Jose Membrive-Jiménez & Nora Suleiman-Martos, 2020. "Burnout in Palliative Care Nurses, Prevalence and Risk Factors: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-13, October.
    5. Hao Zhou & Xinyi Sheng & Yulin He & Xiaoye Qian, 2020. "Ethical Leadership as the Reliever of Frontline Service Employees’ Emotional Exhaustion: A Moderated Mediation Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-13, February.
    6. DeMarree, Kenneth G. & Briñol, Pablo & Petty, Richard E., 2014. "The effects of power on prosocial outcomes: A self-validation analysis," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 20-30.
    7. Etienne Farvaque & Norimichi Matsueda, 2017. "Optimal Term Length For An Overconfident Central Banker," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 62(01), pages 179-192, March.
    8. Yanping Gong & Xiuyuan Tang & Julan Xie & Long Zhang, 2022. "Exploring the Nexus Between Work-to-Family Conflict, Material Rewards Parenting and Adolescent Materialism: Evidence from Chinese Dual-Career Families," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(3), pages 593-607, March.
    9. Leković Milјan, 2020. "Cognitive Biases as an Integral Part of Behavioral Finance," Economic Themes, Sciendo, vol. 58(1), pages 75-96, March.
    10. Mohammed-Aminu Sanda, 2011. "Managerial Self-efficacy and Discretionary Behavior Improving Work Environment for Small Firm Performance," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 2(6), pages 259-266.
    11. Markus Jung & Mischa Seiter, 2021. "Towards a better understanding on mitigating algorithm aversion in forecasting: an experimental study," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 495-516, December.
    12. Miao Xia & Wei Shi & Fulin Wang, 2024. "Impact of Leader’s Goal Framing on Followership Behavior: The Role of Work Meaning and Power Dependence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-19, February.
    13. Welsh, David & Bush, John & Thiel, Chase & Bonner, Julena, 2019. "Reconceptualizing goal setting’s dark side: The ethical consequences of learning versus outcome goals," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 14-27.
    14. Xiaoshuang Lin & Zhen Xiong Chen & Herman H. M. Tse & Wu Wei & Chao Ma, 2019. "Why and When Employees Like to Speak up More Under Humble Leaders? The Roles of Personal Sense of Power and Power Distance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(4), pages 937-950, September.
    15. Natalia Stanulewicz & Emily Knox & Melanie Narayanasamy & Noureen Shivji & Kamlesh Khunti & Holly Blake, 2019. "Effectiveness of Lifestyle Health Promotion Interventions for Nurses: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-36, December.
    16. Khalid Hasan Al Jasimee & Francisco Javier Blanco-Encomienda, 2023. "A SEM-NCA approach towards the impact of participative budgeting on budgetary slack and managerial performance: The mediating role of leadership style and leader-member exchange," Papers 2310.09993, arXiv.org.
    17. Kankanamge Gayan PRIYASHANTHA & Adambarage Chamaru DE ALWIS & Indumathi WELMILLA, 2022. "Work-Family Conflicts in the Context of Labour Market Change: A Systematic Literature Review," Management and Economics Review, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 7(3), pages 330-359, October.
    18. Cezary Kuśnierz & Aleksandra M. Rogowska & Iuliia Pavlova, 2020. "Examining Gender Differences, Personality Traits, Academic Performance, and Motivation in Ukrainian and Polish Students of Physical Education: A Cross-Cultural Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-21, August.
    19. Marko Pitesa & Stefan Thau, 2013. "Compliant sinners, obstinate saints: How power and self-focus determine the effectiveness of social influences in ethical decision making," Post-Print hal-00814614, HAL.
    20. Huang, Huilin & Han, Seung Hun & Cho, Kyumin, 2021. "Co-opted Boards, Social Capital, and Risk-taking," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:7:p:2207-:d:337006. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.