Date of Award
8-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Department
Executive Leadership
First Supervisor
Dr. Guillermo Montes
Second Supervisor
Dr. Loretta Quigley
Abstract
The United States (U.S.) healthcare system faces significant challenges, including high costs and disparities in access and quality of care. These issues were exacerbated by the COVID- 19 pandemic, which strained resources and staffing. Healthcare leaders must navigate the complexities of delivering care, managing costs, and ensuring high-quality, equitable healthcare services. Their role is crucial in transforming the healthcare system, driving change, and implementing innovations to enhance its effectiveness and efficiency. Equipping healthcare leaders with transformational leadership skills allows them to foster a culture of collaboration by inspiring and motivating teams to embrace change. This quantitative study aimed to (a) assess the level of transformational leadership skills among current U.S. healthcare leaders, (b) evaluate their level of emotional exhaustion, and (c) examine how this impacts patient safety culture.
United States healthcare leaders were recruited via a crowdsourcing vendor to distribute surveys examining demographic information, transformational leadership skills, emotional exhaustion, and safety culture scores. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 437 healthcare leaders across the U.S., using validated instruments including the Global Transformational Leadership Scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Emotional Exhaustion subscale), and the AHRQ’s Survey on Patient Safety Culture (SOPS). The results revealed that transformational leadership was a significant predictor of both emotional exhaustion and patient safety culture. Leaders who demonstrated higher transformational leadership behaviors reported greater emotional exhaustion (r = 0.64, p < .01), suggesting a potential cost to their well-being. However, transformational leadership was also strongly associated with improved patient safety culture (r = 0.66, p < .01). Emotional exhaustion itself was positively associated with patient safety culture scores (r = 0.59, p < .01), indicating a complex interplay between leadership engagement, emotional exhaustion, and safety culture.
These findings highlight the dual-edged nature of transformational leadership in healthcare: while it enhances patient safety culture, it may also increase emotional strain on leaders. The study underscores the need for healthcare organizations to invest in leadership development and wellness strategies that support both effective leadership and leader well-being. By doing so, organizations can foster a sustainable leadership culture that promotes both staff resilience and high-quality patient care.
Recommended Citation
Wojciechowski, Katrina J., "The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Leader Emotional Exhaustion and Patient Safety Culture: A Quantitative Study Devoted to Enhancing U.S. Healthcare Leaders" (2025). Education Doctoral. Paper 625.
https://fisherpub.sjf.edu/education_etd/625
Please note that the Recommended Citation provides general citation information and may not be appropriate for your discipline. To receive help in creating a citation based on your discipline, please visit http://libguides.sjfc.edu/citations.