Abstract
BACKGROUND: Police officers and firefighters often face high-stress situations that might impact their well-being. In these contexts, leadership plays a key role in both operational success and safeguarding their well-being.
OBJECTIVES: This systematic review examines the relationship between leadership, well-being, and well-being predictors and outcomes in police and firefighting personnel.
METHODS: A systematic review, following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, was conducted using the Web of Science and Scopus databases. Nineteen studies met the inclusion criteria.
RESULTS: Relationship-oriented leadership is positively correlated with better well-being outcomes, eg, job satisfaction and engagement, and negatively correlated with poor well-being outcomes, eg, burnout and stress, among police officers and firefighters. It is also associated with individual-eg, emotional regulation and self-esteem-and contextual-eg, organizational support and shared values-predictors and negatively correlated with negative well-being consequences, eg, physical complaints and turnover intentions.
CONCLUSIONS: Relationship-oriented leadership appears to be associated with reduced stress and improved well-being. More studies focus on police officers than on firefighters, suggesting that further research is needed for firefighters. The findings emphasize the need for targeted firefighting and policing leadership programs focused on relationship-oriented skills for both professions.