Investigating The Effect Of Paternalistic Leadership On Turnover Intention In Private Hospitals

In the face of fierce competition, recruiting and retaining valuable employees is one of the most important means to improve organizational effectiveness. In Chinese hospital context, doctors and nurses increasingly move frequently, which makes hospitals incur time, financial losses. On the one hand, in order to improve organizational effectiveness, low turnover rate becomes requisite. One the other hand, as an indigenous construct, Paternalistic Leadership has gained significant momentum in scholarship and practice. In the paper, we examine the relationship between PL and employees’ turnover intention, including direct and indirect relationships.Data were collected from four private hospitals, including 188 medical staff. Empirical results revealed that moral leadership negatively affects employees’ turnover intention, and authoritarian leadership has a positive effect on employee’s turnover intention. In addition, emotional exhaustion partly mediates the relationship between moral and authoritarian leadership and employees’ turnover intention. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed in the final part.