Organizational leaders can make a large, positive impact on their employees during crises. However, existing research demonstrates that social support is not always effective in helping employees cope with stress, and existing research has not fully identified features of support attempts that determine their effectiveness. Using mixed methods, the authors investigate the efficacy of organizational leaders’ support efforts during a crisis. In the first study, 571 employees (196 university administrative staff, 192 licensed nurses, and 183 licensed engineers) described actions their leaders engaged in to support them during a global pandemic. Nine themes differentiated helpful from unhelpful leadership support: autonomy, changes, communication, personal resources, safety, timing, tone, work equipment, and workload. Study 2 used a quantitative methodology (162 licensed nurses and 239 licensed engineers) to demonstrate that leadership actions employees deemed as helpful in Study 1 were associated with less employee burnout and fewer physical symptoms. Drawing from emerging social support literature and the stressor-strain model, the findings inform optimal leadership support practices during crises.

在危机期间，组织领导者可以对员工产生巨大的积极影响。然而，现有研究表明，社会支持并不总是有效帮助员工应对压力，并且现有研究尚未完全确定决定其有效性的支持尝试的特征。作者使用混合方法调查了危机期间组织领导者支持工作的有效性。在第一项研究中，571 名员工（196 名大学行政人员、192 名有执照的护士和 183 名有执照的工程师）描述了他们的领导者在全球大流行期间为支持他们而采取的行动。区分有用和无用的领导支持的九个主题：自主权、变革、沟通、个人资源、安全、时间安排、语气、工作设备和工作量。研究 2 使用定量方法（162 名持有执照的护士和 239 名持有执照的工程师）来证明，员工在研究 1 中认为有帮助的领导行为与较少的员工倦怠和较少的身体症状相关。研究结果借鉴新兴的社会支持文献和压力源-压力模型，为危机期间的最佳领导支持实践提供了信息。