What is it about?
This study investigates how leaders can reduce emotional exhaustion in their team members by fairly distributing tasks. Drawing on data from 479 German employees over a 20-month period, we found that transformational leaders—those who inspire, support, and empower their teams—are more likely to be seen as distributing tasks fairly. This sense of fairness, in turn, is linked to lower emotional exhaustion among employees. The results also suggest that when employees are already emotionally exhausted, they may perceive their leaders as less supportive over time.
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Why is it important?
Task distribution is a core leadership responsibility, but its impact on employee well-being is often overlooked. This study highlights that fairness in how work is assigned is not just about team performance—it also protects mental health. By focusing on a rarely studied but everyday leadership behavior, the research offers actionable insights for preventing burnout. It also emphasizes the value of fairness as a social resource in the workplace.
Perspectives
Fairness is more than a moral principle—it’s a practical tool for leadership. This study shows that when leaders pay attention to how they assign work, they can actively contribute to their team’s psychological resilience. I find it particularly meaningful that we explored a less glamorous but highly relevant leadership task—how work is shared—and its profound effect on employee well-being.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Rigotti
Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research (LIR) and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A Fair Share of Work: Is Fairness of Task Distribution a Mediator Between Transformational Leadership and Follower Emotional Exhaustion?, Frontiers in Psychology, November 2019, Frontiers,
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02690.
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