The Impact of Paternalistic Leadership Styles on Employee Engagement in the Pharmaceutical Distribution Industry: The Mediating Role of Psychological Capital
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought great challenges to health workers. In view of the impact of paternalistic leadership styles on employee psychology and engagement, this study aims to explore the relationship between paternalistic leadership styles and employee engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic and the mediating role of psychological capital. Paternalistic Leadership Questionnaire (PLQ), Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ) and Employee Engagement Scale (EES) were used to investigate 557 employees of pharmaceutical distribution enterprises in Shanghai. Statistical software was used for data analysis. Correlation analysis showed that the benevolence, morality and strictness of paternalistic leadership style were significantly positively correlated with the level of psychological capital and engagement, while the autocracy of paternalistic leadership style showed a significant negative correlation with it. Regression analysis showed that paternalistic leadership styles could significantly predict psychological capital and employee engagement, and psychological capital could also significantly predict employee engagement. The results of the mediation effect showed that psychological capital played a complete mediating role between morality, strictness and autocracy of paternalistic leadership style and employee engagement, while psychological capital played a partial mediating role between benevolence and employee engagement in paternalistic leadership style. The four styles of paternalistic leadership in the pharmaceutical distribution industry have a significant impact on employee psychological capital and employee engagement. These findings provide a certain reference value and supplement for the pharmaceutical distribution industry to adjust the management style of leaders, improve the psychological capital of employees, and enhance their level of work engagement.
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