Health-Oriented Self- and Employee Leadership in Virtual Teams: A Qualitative Study with Virtual Leaders

Ilona Efimov, Volker Harth and Stefanie Mache
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Ilona Efimov: Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Seewartenstr. 10, 20459 Hamburg, Germany
Volker Harth: Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Seewartenstr. 10, 20459 Hamburg, Germany
Stefanie Mache: Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Seewartenstr. 10, 20459 Hamburg, Germany

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 18, 1-19

Abstract: Virtual teamwork as a new way of working is becoming increasingly prevalent in a growingly globalized and digitalized working environment. Due to the associated raise in health-related stress factors at the workplace and the central role of leaders in workplace health promotion, the aim of this study is to obtain initial findings on the use of health-oriented self- and employee leadership in virtual teams from the perspective of virtual leaders. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 13 virtual leaders by using the problem-centered interview method. The collected data were deductively and inductively evaluated and interpreted using the qualitative content analysis according to Mayring. The results show that virtual leaders ascribed great value of health and showed great awareness in health-oriented self- and employee leadership. Physical activity and boundary management were particularly mentioned as health-oriented self-leadership behaviors. The majority of leaders described communication, building trust, support in boundary management and implementation of personal meetings as health-oriented employee leadership behaviors. In addition to social, technical, and personal factors, primarily organizational factors were mentioned as factors of influence in this context. For a more comprehensive understanding of health-oriented leadership, the inclusion of virtual team members in further research studies is necessary.

Keywords: health-oriented leadership; virtual teams; virtual leadership; leadership behavior; factors of influence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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