The effect of emotional leadership and job security on employees' mental health

Abstract

We examined the impact of emotional leadership on employees' mental health by establishing a cross-level theoretical model to test this relationship as a function of employees' sense of job security, selfdirected learning, and organizational identification. The research sample consisted of 304 employees of 10 high-technology companies in China. Results show that emotional leadership was positively associated with employees' mental health, and that job security mediated this relationship. Organizational identification and selfdirected learning positively moderated the relationship between job security and employees' mental health, resulting in a moderated mediation effect on the model. The conclusions of this study have implications for improving employees' mental health via interactions with emotional leaders.