摘要：
This study examined the importance of three dimensions (authoritarian leadership,
benevolent leadership, and moral leadership) of paternalistic leadership for the quality
of life of grassroots officials in Shandong Province, China, with burnout as the
mediation factor. In 2019, a cross-sectional survey was conducted of 2064 grassroots
officials from 106 towns or sub-districts in Shandong.We used the scale developed for
measuring paternalistic leadership. Burnout was measured by the Maslach Burnout
Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), and the quality of life was measured by the
abbreviated version of World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire
(WHOQOL-BRIEF). A structured equation model was implemented in AMOS 21 to
examine the contribution of paternalistic leadership (PL) to the quality of life, and the
potential mediation of these relationships by burnout. We found that authoritarian
leadership (AL) has indirect and negative effects on the quality of life mediated by
burnout. Benevolent leadership (BL) was found to be positively and directly associated
with the quality of life.Meanwhile, burnout had a partial mediation effect in the relation
between moral leadership (ML) and the quality of life. In addition, the level of burnout
had a negative and significant influence on the quality of life. The findings showed the
significance of PL when considering the effect of burnout on the quality of life of the
grassroots officials. We conclude that to enhance their quality of life, leadership style
should incline less towards authoritarian styles and more towards benevolent and moral
ones.
