Transformational leadership and employee suicidal ideation: evidence from a three-wave panel model

Leadership, and transformational leadership in particular, has been identified as a predictor of employee mental health. Drawing on the Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory, we proposed that transformational leadership serves as a workplace resource that can reduce employees’ risk of suicidal ideation by alleviating depressive symptoms. Using three-wave panel data collected over two-month intervals from 583 working adults recruited via Prolific, we tested a longitudinal mediation model. We found that transformational leadership negatively predicts depressive symptoms among employees. Depressive symptoms, in turn, positively predict employees’ suicidal ideation. Transformational leadership at Time 1 indirectly predicted reduced suicidal ideation at Time 3 through alleviated depressive symptoms at Time 2. These findings provide longitudinal evidence for the protective role of transformational leadership in employee mental health and underscore the importance of leadership development as a potential strategy for workplace suicide prevention and well-being promotion.