The impact of health-oriented leadership on follower health : development and test of a new instrument measuring health-promoting leadership

The impact of health-oriented leadership on follower health: Development and test of a new instrument measuring health-promoting leadership** Based on previous research on leadership and follower health, three questions need to be answered or clarified. These questions refer to what health-specific leadership behavior is, whether motivational and cognitive aspects provide information beyond such behavior, and what role followers play in the leadership-health link. We introduce a new concept and measure of Health-oriented Leadership (HoL). This concept combines leaders' health-specific orientation towards followers (StaffCare; i.e., health behavior, health awareness, and value of health) and followers' health-specific attributes toward themselves (SelfCare). We present tests of construct and criterion validity from two field studies. The findings of Study 1 (N = 535) provide evidence for the construct validity of the HoL instrument. Study 2 (N = 383) examined the impact of StaffCare and SelfCare on follower health. As hypothesized, StaffCare as health-specific leadership is related to followers' state of health, irritation, health complaints, and work-family conflicts. These effects were shown independently from transformational leadership indicating incremental validity. Moreover, the relationship between StaffCare and these outcomes is mediated by followers' SelfCare. The findings contribute to a more comprehensive picture of ways in which leaders can promote follower health by (a) engaging in StaffCare and (b) fostering followers' SelfCare.