Job demands and perceived distance in leader-follower relationships: A study on emotional exhaustion among nurses

Background: Emotional exhaustion is the most important component of burnout syndrome, which is a threat to nurses' psychological well-being. Objectives: The study investigated the impact of job demands - workload, cognitive demands, emotional demands, role conflict - and perceived leader-follower interaction frequency on emotional exhaustion among nurses. Methods: This study was conducted at three hospitals in northern Italy through an anonymous self-report questionnaire administered to 560 nurses. Multiple hierarchical regression was performed. Results: Workload and role conflict were positively related to emotional exhaustion, whereas cognitive demands and perceived leader-follower interaction frequency were negatively related. Emotional demands displayed a non-significant relationship with emotional exhaustion. Further analyses were performed to comment on the unexpected outcome of cognitive demands. A critical role of the perception of “distance” in leader-follower relationships on burnout was found. Conclusions: This study provides novel insights into the relationship between job demands and burnout, and much needed empirical evidence on leader-follower relationships among nurses, pointing to the important role played by leader distance in nurses' well-being at work. Findings highlight the importance of training head nurses in managing their working relationship distance from their followers in order to help them soothing emotional exhaustion.