The world is currently facing a global Covid-19 pandemic. This pandemic effect 17,201,277 lives globally and continues to increase. The virus that causes COVID-19 is mainly transmitted through droplets generated when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or exhales. These droplets are too heavy to hang in the air, and quickly fall on floors or surfaces. The novel coronavirus' case fatality rate has been estimated at around 2%, in the WHO press conference held on January 29, 2020 (Who, 2020). To date, Pakistan has reported 277,402 coronavirus cases that are being treated in government / public sector hospitals across the country. This Covid-19 pandemic has significantly affected both the physical and psychological condition of individuals (Galea et al., 2020).
Among all other individuals, nursing staff are those directly affected by the novel coronavirus (Kang et al., 2020). This has had an impact on the psychological capabilities of nursing staff, particularly those involved in coronavirus treatment. Nursing staff in public sector hospitals are actively involved in this treatment. Regardless of hospitals, public sector organizations have shown their importance to the economy of the country. Due to certain factors, public sector organizations that have created barriers to economic growth in a country can never achieve the desired level of performance (Malik & Khan, 2020), and these organizations are also responsible for the slower growth of the country. Employee disengagement is the primary reason for failing to achieve a level of desire for performance (Malik & Khan, 2020). The concept of employee engagement is comparatively new and has been widely discussed by different organizational behavior consultants, with researchers also joining forces, and both sides (consultants and researchers) are steeped in competing and inconsistent interpretations of the meaning of the construct. Recently, organizations are also accepting that employee engagement is producing bottom- line results. There is sufficient literature available to define strategies for the promotion of employee engagement in the organization of different sectors (Shen & Jiang, 2019; Wu et al., 2020). Organizations also use different terms for the engagement of employees according to the working nature of the organization (Jha et al., 2019). The term of nurse’s engagement is a term that is popular and widely used in the health sector (Heath, & Clendon, 2019). The concept of nurse’s engagement nurses is used to describe how the nurses are fulfilled and committed to their particular position. The concept is directly related to key outcomes related to patient experience, efficacy and health. Nurse's engagement has been influenced by a number of organizational, psychological and management factors. These factors play a key role in transforming the attitudes of nurses towards positive or negative work-related outcomes. Among all other factors, the working environment is a factor that directly affects the attitude of nurses towards their work (Malik & Khan, 2020).
The working environment of an organization closely linked to the prevailing leadership, which is solely responsible for creating a healthy working environment. Positive and strong leadership practices are important for addressing the challenges of hectic pace, economic pressure, conflict resolution, and dealing with staff shortages. Leadership role is also important for providing safe care for patients and quality working environment for staff. Leadership has been adopted by researchers as a process in which individuals inspire others to achieve some common goals. Laschinger et al., (2009) defined that the leaders in the sector of healthcare organizations are liable for making the requirements for the work of nurses and other professionals simpler by identifying the level of support, knowledge and services in the work. Nursing staff respond favorably to their work and trust their leaders when they feel that they are honest, accessible, frank and eager to allow them to take part in decisions (Wong et al., 2013). In fact, nurses who believe their leaders are authentic feel support, confident, and empowerment in the workplace (Laschinger et. al., 2009). Authentic leadership is grounded in the humanistic ideals that are fundamental to healthcare and other careers. Authentic leadership encourages a safe workforce that values, supports and rewards everyone for their work (Blake & Isard, 2012). Based on the facts, healthcare organizations particularly need to suggest authentic leadership in order to achieve the optimum level of workforce performance and nurse’s engagement. In addition, this leadership is also necessary to demonstrate moral virtue. For nursing staff, moral virtue or moral emotions are important due to their delicate nature of work. In the family of moral emotions, compassion, gratitude, and elevation emotions have been identified and used. As authentic leaders have shown moral virtue, their in-group followers also display the same virtue. These moral emotions also have an impact on the engagement of nursing staff. However, a perceived threat may influence the propensity of moral emotional effect on engagement. Since leaders have the potential to create a framework for professional growth and development, and the environments in which participants feel affected are encouraged to thrive. Leaders stand out who left a lasting impression on us in our professional lives, and if the leaders were brave, speaking out without fear, when there was a need for a strong voice, and they were able to attract followers who had earned a high level of job satisfaction by working with them. In nursing, genuine leaders are needed to obtain the maximum output from the staff, particularly in the prevailing situation.
The recent Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on both the country's economic growth and the health care system. Most medical staff face uncertainty about their own health and perceived threat of Covid-19, specifically medical staff serving in public sector hospitals. The active disengagement of nursing staff is due to the threat posed by Covid-19, as well as their perception of job security provided by their organization. The current study is conducted with the aim of identifying factors that may have an impact on the engagement of the nurse despite the uncertain situation of the Covid-19. Previous literature suggested that authentic leaders are the leaders who share moral virtue, and that their followers share the same moral virtue as their leaders. Unfortunately, limited literature on the relationship of authentic leadership and emotion is available. The current study addresses the gap by integrating moral emotions and highlighting the issue of the disengagement of nursing staff in government hospitals in Pakistan. Based on the problem statement, the objective of the current study is to determine the impact of authentic leadership on the involvement of nurses. To find out about the mediating role of moral emotions in relation to authentic leadership and nurse engagement, and to find out about the moderating role of perceived threat of coronavirus in shaping moral emotions. In line with the objectives and problems identified, the current study is conducted under the guidance of authentic leadership theory, which claims that true leaders have the potential to shape emotions that further lead to positive attitudes. The said impact can, however, be materialized under boundary conditions. The perceived threat of coronavirus was taken as a boundary condition in the current study. The present study has significance as it adds more insights into the existing literature of authentic leadership through the inclusion of moral emotions. The study also provides new insights into theoretical improvement and provides guidance to practitioners on how to deal with the current situation. It will help to increase the involvement of nurses by providing them with authentic leaders so that they can be guided by their leaders. This timely research will also provide guidance for management on the effective use of organizational resources.
Literature Review
Authentic Leadership, compassion and employee engagement
Broaden and Build’s Emotion Theory suggested that individuals experiencing positive hospital-related effects, such as open discussion of work-related issues, broaden their cognition and attitudinal repertoire and thus engage. Authentic leaders have a positive attitude towards their followers, which leads them to share feelings of compassion and leads them to engage in the fulfillment of their tasks. Compassion Emotion is very important for nursing staff because of their unique nature of work. It needs a sound mental and psychological state that can be guided by true leaders. It has been seen as a mediator in a different positive relationship. Previous researcher argued that the individual values or affective state guided by authenticity and it can further leads to engagement (Menard & Brunet, 2011). Authentic leaders are a potential force that guides the individual to develop compassionate emotions, and it has been identified that compassion has an impact on engagement in the workplace (Mason et al., 2014). The current study took compassionate emotion as a mediator in the relationship of authentic leadership and commitment to work. It has been observed that the vigor-component of engagement is closely influenced by compassion. Nursing staff who show a higher level of commitment to their work related activities tend to have compassionate feelings and enjoy a more positive relationship with their leaders. Current research has shown a positive relationship with authentic leadership and compassion in the workplace and enhanced work engagement. Researcher (e.g. Kanov et al., 2004) identified that employee-positive workplace experience appears to have the feelings of caring for others, compassion, and empathy towards others. In general, these workers foster participation and commitment to organizational well-being and ultimately psychological well-being. The compassionate emotion is spiritual and moral emotion that has emerged as important to nursing workers due to the special nature of their work. It has the impact on job related positive outcomes such as engagement, satisfaction and commitment towards the organization as well as the stakeholders. The compassionate emotion is spiritual and moral emotion that arose as important to nursing workers as it is the core demand of their job. Weng et al. (2013) defined the compassion emotion that is commonly recognized as an individual's emotional reaction to those in distress. It's essentially selfless thoughts. Nursing staff who assist doctors in the treatment of corona patients need such emotional reaction despite being able to witness the same disease in the latest coronavirus pandemic. Employees with caring feelings tend to have the stronger on-the-job commitment and it has more positive effects. Identifying the relationship is important within some well-established theories. Broaden and Build Theory has the framework to describe the relationship between authentic leadership, compassion, and employee engagement as authentic leadership structures are extended, compassion emotions are built, and engagement patterns are further established by members. Previous literature suggested that the authentic leadership is having the potential to transform the emotions and these emotions leads to engagement, satisfaction and commitment. Specifically, in the current situation where most of the people are suffering with pandemic of Covid-19, nursing staff are continuously working for them to fight with the disease.
H1: Compassion mediates the relationship of authentic leadership and nurses engagement.
Authentic Leadership, gratitude and employee engagement
Researchers concluded that authentic leaders have the capacity to influence the moral virtue of their followers, which further leads to a positive attitude (Leong et al., 2020). Authentic leaders also share the moral virtue that can be found in their followers and can help their followers to develop a positive attitude. Gratitude is the feeling of being thankful in response to a positive response from the boss or the organization. Employees with a feeling of gratitude tend to engage in the accomplishment of tasks or help leaders / organization to achieve goals. The relationship of authentic leadership, gratitude and commitment is supported from the point of view of interpersonal relationships, where the individual's inner motivation evokes, and then tries to fulfil his or her responsibilities. Such interpersonal relationships have been studied in literature under the aegis of the famous theory of social exchange. The theory suggests that leaders and the working environment are fundamental motivators for workers who can provide primary help in shaping emotions as well as engagement. The rule of reciprocity is clearly stated in the theory of social exchange, which states that "people should help those who helped them, and people should not harm those who helped them" (Blau, 1964). Emotions, based on the literature on social psychology, guide the decision of individuals on social exchange (Bartlett & DeSteno, 2006). In particular, gratitude and obligation form the core of reciprocity and act as a focal point for the development and maintenance of interpersonal relationships (Dewani et al . , 2016). Researchers considered gratitude and obligation to be an independent antecedent of reciprocal behaviour (Goei & Boster, 2005). The current study builds a relationship of authentic leadership, gratitude and commitment to nursing based on the theory of social exchange. If nurses get positivity through authentic leadership, even if they are in an uncertain situation, they can show gratitude and engage in work-related activities. Researchers signifies the gratitude emotion as mediator in different studies and identify the significant results. Gratitude refers to one's feeling when someone else intentionally gave or tried to give something of value to someone else.” (Bartlett & DeSteno, 2006). Employee’s affective state, stemming from recognizing another’s actions that trigger reciprocal behaviour (Bock et al., 2016). If the individual gets positive feelings from the leaders, it is by showing gratitude, which leads to nurse’s engagement (Fehr et al., 2017). Authentic leadership is of great importance to nursing staff, which leads to an increase in the involvement of nurses. Relationships become stronger when gratitude emotions are shown.
H2: Gratitude mediates the relationship of authentic leadership and nurses engagement.
Authentic Leadership, elevation and employee engagement
Elevation (emotion) is an emotion elicited by witnessing exceptional moral goodness in virtuous behaviour. This is felt as a distinct feeling of warmth and expansion, accompanied by the person whose exemplary conduct is viewed with appreciation and affection. Elevated nurses demonstrate the principle and usually involve more in the demonstration of pro-social behaviour. The psychologist and scholars have found the emotion of upliftment, if the person experiences morality than the individual displays (Klebl et al., 2020). Concept is most widely used in psychology for the more positive outcomes in mood and type of behaviour. Because it is a spiritual feeling, it is expressed by the followers of genuine leaders, since their leaders are having the same. It leads to a positive attitude and a pro-social attitude. Previous research shows that an individual with an uplifting emotion is becoming more kind to others. Such kindness emerge in the cognitions because they are experience the virtue from their leader’s i.e. authentic leaders. They were inspired and motivated by the virtues of their leaders, which led them to display morality. In the context of hospital and nursing staff, nursing staff are becoming more kind to serve their patients while they are suffering with their health related issues (Sparks et al., 2019). The relationship between leaders and followers is much more important in this respect. In the current Covid-19 pandemic, nursing staff who are undergoing genuine leadership tend to feel the upsurge that leads them to engage in serving their patients. In principle, according to the theory of social exchange, they are reciprocating the same behaviour as their leaders do. The relationship of authentic leadership and engagement is mediated by the elevation emotion. The elevation emotion is guided through the intrinsic motivation of an individual. Motivation is considered complementary for adoption of pro-social behaviour. Elevation is the emotion evoked by spiritual beauty actions and can be the opposite of disgust. It is a constructive social emotion, caused by witnessing the actions of third parties (leaders) and helps the individual to adopt positive attitude towards the prevailing environment. It triggers the desire to be kind to others (patients). The situation now demands an increase in the number of nursing staff for their coronavirus patients. Yet credible leadership still needs to be learned. The partnership is endorsed on the basis of the principle of social exchange as the individual expresses the same value as the organisation. Elevation emotion as mediator may yield better results quite in isolation, since it is driven by previous actions (Shukla et al., 2020).
H3: Elevation emotion mediates the relationship of authentic leadership and nurses engagement.
Moderating role of Perceived Coronavirus threat
Threat in any form may be linked to individual's psychological state. Individual decisions and cognitions are positively related to the severity of the threat. It has a positive link with moral cognitions, unfortunately with regard to a specific disease that has not been studied in the literature. Haidt, (2007) noted that the perceived threat of disease plays an essential role in shaping moral judgment. It has a significant role for people who are morally vigilant. The perceived threat of disease is closely linked to the emergence of moral emotions (Wirtz et al., 2016). Growing body of knowledge related to moral emotions has identified that the threat of disease alters moral cognition and needs to be properly addressed (Constantin & Cuadrado, 2019). Researcher (e.g. Schaller & Park, 2011; Murray & Schaller, 2016) has rigorously studied and concluded that perceived disease threat has various implications for moral cognitions (moral emotions), emotional process, and behavior. The published literature suggested most of the emerging findings that link perceived disease threat to a set of affective components and characteristics that indicate behavioral caution and attitude conservatism, such as lower sociability levels and lower tolerance to non-conformity (Murray & Schaller, 2012). The disease that has been identified as a pandemic is a cause of health threats that have different impact on peoples’ psychological states (Murray & Schaller, 2012).
Recently, the global coronavirus pandemic is a threat to every person's life, which also affects their psychological health, particularly those in health care who have to deal with the threat of coronavirus every day. Nursing staff who are the followers of authentic leaders are displaying the moral emotions (compassion, gratitude, and elevation) which further leads to adoption of positive attitude, but the perceived threat of coronavirus decrease the intensity of the relationship. The said sequential path (authentic leadership, moral emotions and engagement) is weakened by the coronavirus threat. The researchers e.g. Matavelli et al., (2020) took financial threat as moderator and got significant results for altering the defined relationship. The Covid-19 pandemic even affected the psychological state of the nursing staff who were identified with a lot of moral emotions. Since coronavirus has been identified as a disease, it spreads through interactions with individuals who are already suffering, so that most individuals avoid people who are affected by coronavirus, despite being responsible for treating people. The threat of coronavirus is significantly moderating the relationship of authentic leadership, elevation, compassion and gratitude and weaker the said relationship. Authentic leaders are the leaders with the component of moral integrity and share the same with their followers. The followers also shading the same moral virtue and the impact has been signifies by previous literature (for reference: Cianci et al., 2014; Malik & Khan, 2019). Wong and Walsh (2020) carried out a relationship review, particularly in the healthcare sector, identifying that nursing staff issues can be addressed through the inclusion of genuine leadership. Because nurses are reportedly facing some form of harassment and incivility (Hutchinson, 2018). These issues can be overcome by leaders who have a moral imperative (Berry, Gillespie, Fisher, Gormley, & Haynes, 2016). But these strategies worked only in normal circumstances where the individual was psychologically stable, not in the event of a pandemic. It has been identified that the perceived threat has immediate and large influence on the affective components of individual attitude. In the light of different theories, including the theory of reactivity, it can be predicted that the perceived threat of COVID-19 will reduce moral emotions and weaken defined relationships. Recently, there is a research conducted on pandemic of Covid- 19, with the identification that it has already influence the social and daily lives of individuals and they are trying to protect themselves (Woodside, 2019; Convey et al., 2020) even the nursing staff.
H4: Perceived Coronavirus threat moderate the relationship of authentic leadership and elevation in such a way that the threat increases the relationship becomes weak.
H5: Perceived Coronavirus threat moderate the relationship of authentic leadership and compassion in such a way that when the Coronavirus threat related perception increases the strength of authentic leadership and compassion decrease.
H6: Perceived Coronavirus threat moderate the relationship of authentic leadership and gratitude in such a way that when the perceived Coronavirus threat increases the strength of authentic leadership and gratitude decrease.