TY - JOUR
T1 - The Impact of Leader–Member Relationships on Team Effectiveness Through Speaking Up and Silence
T2 - A Cross-Sectional Study in Rural Chinese Hospitals
AU - Wang, Hujie
AU - Buljac-Samardzic, Martina
AU - van Wijngaarden, Jeroen David Hendrikus
AU - van de Klundert, Joris
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Wang et al.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Introduction: Although the importance of leader–member relationships in teamwork is acknowledged in literature, a deeper understanding of this relationship is lacking, especially in rural areas. The impact of leader–member relationships on team outcomes is especially important in rural Chinese hospitals as improving teamwork forms a national health reform priority in these hospitals. This study investigates how leader-member relationships (ie leader-member perceived similarity and power distance orientation) influence team outcomes (ie perceived quality of care and job satisfaction) via speaking up and silence. Methods: An online questionnaire was completed by 1017 team members (ie doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals) of 300 teams in four rural Chinese hospitals in October 2022. The questionnaire measured leader-member perceived similarity, power distance orientation, speaking up, silence, perceived quality of care, job satisfaction and control variables. Multilevel mediation analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses. Results: Leader–member perceived similarity and power distance orientation are positively related to speaking up (β=0.61, p<0.01; β=0.17, p<0.01 respectively) and to silence (β=0.41, p<0.01; β=0.63, p<0.01 respectively). Speaking up is positively related to the perceived quality of care (β=0.24, p<0.01; β=0.46, p<0.01) and job satisfaction (β=0.30, p<0.01; β=0.54, p<0.01), while the impact of silence is not significant. Finally, speaking up mediates the associations of both leader-member perceived similarity and power distance orientation with perceived quality of care (β=0.15, p<0.01; β=0.08, p<0.01 respectively) and job satisfaction (β=0.30, p<0.01; β=0.54, p<0.01 respectively). Conclusion: Speaking up, rather than silence, contributes to team functioning by mediating the impact of leader–member relationships to team outcomes. Hospital management may therefore seek to stimulate speaking up by focussing on leader-member relation-ships: increasing leader-member similarity and promoting members’ power distance orientation. However, any unintended effect of increased silence through these leader–member relationships is an important area of future research, which can adopt multidimensional models of speaking up and silence.
AB - Introduction: Although the importance of leader–member relationships in teamwork is acknowledged in literature, a deeper understanding of this relationship is lacking, especially in rural areas. The impact of leader–member relationships on team outcomes is especially important in rural Chinese hospitals as improving teamwork forms a national health reform priority in these hospitals. This study investigates how leader-member relationships (ie leader-member perceived similarity and power distance orientation) influence team outcomes (ie perceived quality of care and job satisfaction) via speaking up and silence. Methods: An online questionnaire was completed by 1017 team members (ie doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals) of 300 teams in four rural Chinese hospitals in October 2022. The questionnaire measured leader-member perceived similarity, power distance orientation, speaking up, silence, perceived quality of care, job satisfaction and control variables. Multilevel mediation analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses. Results: Leader–member perceived similarity and power distance orientation are positively related to speaking up (β=0.61, p<0.01; β=0.17, p<0.01 respectively) and to silence (β=0.41, p<0.01; β=0.63, p<0.01 respectively). Speaking up is positively related to the perceived quality of care (β=0.24, p<0.01; β=0.46, p<0.01) and job satisfaction (β=0.30, p<0.01; β=0.54, p<0.01), while the impact of silence is not significant. Finally, speaking up mediates the associations of both leader-member perceived similarity and power distance orientation with perceived quality of care (β=0.15, p<0.01; β=0.08, p<0.01 respectively) and job satisfaction (β=0.30, p<0.01; β=0.54, p<0.01 respectively). Conclusion: Speaking up, rather than silence, contributes to team functioning by mediating the impact of leader–member relationships to team outcomes. Hospital management may therefore seek to stimulate speaking up by focussing on leader-member relation-ships: increasing leader-member similarity and promoting members’ power distance orientation. However, any unintended effect of increased silence through these leader–member relationships is an important area of future research, which can adopt multidimensional models of speaking up and silence.
KW - leader-member perceived similarity
KW - leader-member relationship
KW - power distance orientation
KW - silence
KW - speaking up
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85212769797&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2147/JHL.S460900
DO - 10.2147/JHL.S460900
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85212769797
SN - 1179-3201
VL - 16
SP - 543
EP - 555
JO - Journal of Healthcare Leadership
JF - Journal of Healthcare Leadership
ER -