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Cited by 75Workplace Health and Well-beingStress and Burnout ResearchJob Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior

Exploring compassionate managerial leadership style in reducing employee stress level during COVID-19 crisis: the case of Nigeria

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Oruh, Emeka Smart, Mordi, Chima, Dibia, Chianu Harmony, Ajonbadi, Hakeem Adeniyi·2021·Employee Relations: The International Journal
DOI 10.1108/er-06-2020-0302
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Abstract

Purpose: This study explores how compassionate managerial leadership style can help to mitigate workplace stressors and alleviate stress experiences among employees — particularly in an extreme situation, such as the current global COVID-19 pandemic. The study's context is Nigeria's banking, manufacturing and healthcare sectors, which have a history of high employee stress levels. Design/methodology/approach: Using a qualitative, interpretive methodology, the study adopts the thematic analysis process (TAP) to draw and analyse data from semi-structured telephone interviews with 10 banking, 11 manufacturing and 9 frontline healthcare workers in Nigeria. Findings: It was found that a compassionate managerial leadership can drive a considerate response to employees' “fear of job (in)security”, “healthcare risk” and concerns about “work overload, underpayment and delayed payment”, which respondents considered to be some of the key causes of increased stress among employees during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Research limitations/implications: The study is limited to exploring the relationship between compassionate managerial leadership and an organisation's ability to manage employee stress in the COVID-19 situation, using 30 samples from organisations operating in three Nigerian cities and sectors. Future studies may involve more Nigerian cities, sectors and samples. It may also possibly include quantitative combination to allow generalisation of findings. Practical implications: In order to survive in extreme situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, organisations are forced to take drastic and often managerialist-driven work measures which can trigger high stress levels, low productivity and absenteeism among employees. Hence, organisations would benefit from implementing compassion-driven policies that are more inclusive and responsive to the workplace stressors facing employees. Originality/value: Employee stress has been widely explored in many areas, including definitions, stressors, strains, possible interventions and coping strategies. There remains, however, a dearth of scholarship on how management-leadership compassion can help to reduce employee stress levels in extreme conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic — particularly in emerging economies.

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  • Compassionate leadership is viewed as a leadership that embodies an act of love, care, and selflessness and enables a caring and supportive organization.

    “Compassionate leadership is viewed as a leadership that embodies an act of love, care, and selflessness and enables a caring and supportive organization (Oruh et al. 2021).”

    From Whither compassionate leadership? A systematic review (2024) · cites this paper as Oruh et al. 2021

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1 of the 52 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 9

  1. Creswell, J.W. (2013), Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, Sage Publications, London.
  2. Drucker, P.F. (2006), Classic Drucker: Essential Wisdom of Peter Drucker from the Pages of Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Press, Harvard.
  3. Effiong, A.I., Nseobot, I.R., Johnny, A.E., Frank, E.I., Abere, O.J., Essien, M.O. and Ukpong, E.S. (2020), "Assessment of Nigerian television authority (NTA) ongoing programme awareness campaigns on corona virus in Nigeria", Electronic Research Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 2706-8242.
  4. Oruh, E.S., Mordi, C., Ajonbadi, A., Mojeed-Sanni, B., Nwagbara, U. and Rahman, M.. (2019), "Investigating the relationship between managerialist employment relations and employee turnover intention: the case of Nigeria", Employment Relations, Vol. 42 No. 1, pp. 52-74.
  5. Oshagbemi, T. (2017), Leadership and Management in Universities: Britain and Nigeria, Walter de Gruyter GmbH KG, Vol. 14.
  6. Otobo, D. (2016), Reforms and Nigerian Labour and Employment Relations: Perspectives, Issues and Challenges, Malthouse Press limited, Lagos.
  7. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2012), Research Methods for Business Students, 6th ed., Prentice Education, London.
  8. Victor, A.M., Domingues, J. and Anderson, S.A. (2017), "Occupational stress: a study with supermarket professionals in Brazil", International Journal of Business Management and Economic Research, Vol. 8 No. 6, pp. 1115-1119.
  9. Dr Emeka (Smart) has authored several publications -some of which have appeared in highly rated international journals outlets such as International Journal of Human Resource Management, Journal of Managerial Psychology and Employee Relations journals among others. Emeka Smart Oruh is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: emeka.oruh@brunel.ac.uk Dr Chima Mordi is a Senior Lecturer in the College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences at Brunel University, UK. He is a trained Lawyer and hold a PhD in human resource management from Keele University, UK. His key research examines international business in emerging and developing markets. It examines the state of labour relations, comparative HRM in Africa, Asia and Middle Eastern countries, employer's flexibility, the regulation of workloads in large firms and work-life balance of white collar- workers. Chima has authored several publications which have appeared in highly rated international journals outlets such as Thunderbird International Business Review, International Journal of Human Resource Management; Personnel Review, Employee Relations and Career Development International Journal etc.

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Authors
Oruh, E. S., Mordi, C., Dibia, C. H., & Ajonbadi, H. A.
Affiliations
  • Brunel University of London (GB)
  • Higher Colleges of Technology (AE)
Corresponding author
Oruh, Emeka Smart
ORCID
Venue
Employee Relations: The International Journal
Publisher
Emerald
Published
2021-04-30
Volume
43
Issue
6
Pages
1362-1381
ISSN
  • 0142-5455 (ISSN-L)
  • 1758-7069
DOI
10.1108/er-06-2020-0302
OpenAlex
W3159410552
Cited by
75
References
52
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 3
FWCI
15.51
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Employee Relations (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • BCU Open Access Repository (Birmingham City University) (acceptedVersion)
  • ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (submittedVersion)
  • Brunel University Research Archive (BURA) (Brunel University London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DMU Open Research Archive (De Montfort University) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Workplace Health and Well-being
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
Keywords
compassionate leadership, managerial leadership style, occupational stress, occupational stressors, COVID-19 pandemic, job insecurity, healthcare workers, banking sector, manufacturing industry, work overload, late payment, emerging markets, Nigeria

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