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Leadership, Occupational Stress and Sustainable Operations: Multinational Perspective

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2021) | Viewed by 13215

Special Issue Editors

Business and Management, Yorkville University, Toronto, Ontario, L4K 4N1, Canada
Interests: occupational stress; leadership; sustainability; ethical consumer behavior; gender studies; supply chain management; Industry 4.0
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
1. Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences Department of Business, Usak University, 64000 Uşak, Turkey
2. School of Business, IPAG Business School, 75006 Paris, France
Interests: equality, diversity and inclusion; intersectionality approach; leadership; institutional theory; sustainability.
Management and Tourism, University of Sunderland in London, London, United Kingdom
Interests: tourism; hospitality; leadership; entertainment management; service quality; sustainable tourism management; sustainability
Business Management, Namal Institute, Mianwali, Pakistan
Interests: ethical leadership; Islamic work ethics; inclusive leadership; innovative work behavior

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue offers deeper insight about Leadership, Sustainable Operations and Occupational Stress. The aim is to encourage authors and readers to discuss and question the existing trends in leadership and their linkage with occupational stress and sustainable operations.

The context, complexities, and connectedness encompassing the theories and practices related to various application domains within the social sciences, especially related to leadership, remain the focus of this Special Issue. It offers a scope to have more practical solutions to businesses facing the issues of leadership crises.

With the rapid changes in the environment, there is continuous flux creating occupational stress and intensifying competition, which further questions the approaches of leaders to retain psychological capital while not compromising on sustainability. The volatile environment is driving leaders to be more responsive, authentic, inclusive, and ethical in their daily operations so that they can achieve sustainability.

This Special Issue covers the wide range of leadership theories and practices under the sustainability umbrella, examining the relationship with various types of occupational stress and other contributing factors. We welcome the submission of theoretical and practical developments related to existing studies revising, revisiting, and further exploring the modernized methods to fill the gaps in existing leadership-related knowledge by recommending sustainable means.

The existing literature has focused on the general notion of the linkage between leadership and sustainable operations, while only briefly touching on occupational stress. However, questioning the leadership and vision of leaders while dealing with occupational stress remains understudied. The most effective leadership trends in the wake of the current context, complexities, and connectedness requires a fresh insight. How global and domestic leaders implement sustainable operations is missing from the existing literature. There is still no conclusive evidence from the multinational perspective to find the most appropriate methods of leadership. Whether there are certain types of leadership and sustainable operations which are more concerned with “means” or “ends” remains unknown. Thus, this Special Issue is a path-breaker aiming to offer more practical and comprehensive solutions for dealing with various types of occupational stress.

The objective of this Special Issue is to promote path-breaking research on impact leadership, optimized sustainable operations, and human capital, dealing with various stressors to formulate a new body of knowledge to assist businesses, leaders, and top management in the creation of sustainable organizations.

Dr. Adnan Ul Haque
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Erhan Aydin
Dr. Vipin Nadda
Dr. Basharat Javed
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • leadership
  • sustainable operations
  • occupations stress
  • decision-making
  • sustainable operational needs
  • strategic and tactical operations
  • visions for leaders

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 863 KiB  
Article
Not All Demands Are Exhausted for Healthcare Workers. A Cross-Lagged Study on the Buffering Effect of Leadership Resources
by Łukasz Baka, Dawid Ścigała and Krzysztof Grala
Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10623; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su131910623 - 24 Sep 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1608
Abstract
This study investigated the cross-lagged effects of a three job demands on exhaustion and buffering function of leadership resources among Polish healthcare workers. Job demands include quantitative and two emotional (related to engaging in the patient’s personal problems and related to hiding emotions) [...] Read more.
This study investigated the cross-lagged effects of a three job demands on exhaustion and buffering function of leadership resources among Polish healthcare workers. Job demands include quantitative and two emotional (related to engaging in the patient’s personal problems and related to hiding emotions) demands, while leadership resources include quality of leadership and trust in management. The study was conducted in two waves (both of them in COVID-19 pandemic), with a one-year interval between the measurements. Data were collected among 1251 healthcare workers. A moderated regression analysis showed that quantitative demands and demands for hiding emotions (T1 but not emotionally engagement in the patient’s personal problems) were related to high exhaustion (T2). Both leadership resources (T1) diminished the negative impact of quantitative (not emotional) demands on exhaustion, but the buffering effect of trust was stronger. Furthermore, the two leadership resources interact with each other and together neutralize the effects of quantitative demands. Specifically, the lowest level of exhaustion was observed in those healthcare workers who had high levels of both resources, measured one year before. The implications for theory and research on the effects of different job demands on exhaustion in pandemic are discussed. Full article
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19 pages, 3100 KiB  
Article
The Role of Ethical Leadership in Managing Occupational Stress to Promote Innovative Work Behaviour: A Cross-Cultural Management Perspective
by Adnan ul Haque and Fred A. Yamoah
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9608; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13179608 - 26 Aug 2021
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 5424
Abstract
This study examines the role of ethical leadership in managing occupational stress to engender innovative work behaviour (IWB) in cargo logistic SMEs in a contrasting cross-cultural management context of Canada and Pakistan. We draw on Trait Activation Theory to develop the conceptual and [...] Read more.
This study examines the role of ethical leadership in managing occupational stress to engender innovative work behaviour (IWB) in cargo logistic SMEs in a contrasting cross-cultural management context of Canada and Pakistan. We draw on Trait Activation Theory to develop the conceptual and theoretical framework of the study. Using connections and a networking approach, a proportionate equal sample of nine SMEs were selected for the study. Analysis of the data from the semi-structured Skype and face-to-face interviews with 38 supervisors and 97 employees showed that ethical leadership plays a vital role in reducing occupational stress and increasing employees’ IWB in both countries. Employees in both countries perceiving ethical leadership exhibit more creative-constructive behaviour. The results further demonstrate that males relative to females in both countries have a higher tendency of exhibiting risk-taking behaviour and IWB, resulting from leaders’ support. Similarly, males have higher tendency of challenging the prevailing “status quo” within the organisations than females. Generally, the Pakistani workforce scored higher in contrast to the Canadian workforce in demonstrating IWB due to ethical leadership support, despite higher perception of occupational stress. Cross-cultural management implications are duly outlined. Full article
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17 pages, 954 KiB  
Article
Understanding the Role of Leadership Styles of Erdogan and Merkel in Sustainability of Turkey-European Union Relations: A Leadership Trait Analysis
by Erdi Kutlu, Çağdaş Cengiz, Murat Necip Arman and Emir Ozeren
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9258; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13169258 - 18 Aug 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4552
Abstract
This study aims to understand the role of the leadership styles of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in European Union-Turkey relations by conducting a Leadership Trait Analysis (LTA), which takes into account the leaders’ personalities in foreign policy. [...] Read more.
This study aims to understand the role of the leadership styles of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in European Union-Turkey relations by conducting a Leadership Trait Analysis (LTA), which takes into account the leaders’ personalities in foreign policy. The article makes use of the verbal records of the two leaders regarding the bilateral relations between their countries and the European Union. The results unveil that the two leaders’ personal characteristics bear similarities to a considerable extent; i.e., both leaders are sceptical in inter-personal relations, discernibly intuitive, self-confident and so forth. The study suggests that those personal traits of the leaders which have occasionally outweighed crude rationality have been some of the important factors enabling the sustainability of relations between Turkey and the EU against all odds. Full article
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