The burnout epidemic during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of LMX in alleviating physicians' burnout

During COVID-19 pandemic, physicians are being exposed to unprecedented adverse working conditions that lead to increased occurrence of burnout. While supportive leadership is considered effective in preventing burnout, little is known about the role of leadership in extreme situations. Drawing on leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, we hypothesize that high-LMX relationships lead to lower levels of burnout, as they shape physicians' perceptions of psychosocial job demands and resources. We also contend that this effect will be stronger for frontline physicians, as they are more exposed to job stressors. In a field study with 2,708 Brazilian physicians, we found support to the alleviating role of LMX, but contrary to what we predicted, we found that this effect is weaker for frontline physicians. Overall, our findings reinforce the importance of establishing high-quality relationships between supervisors and medical staff to mitigate the experience of burnout, however, they also highlight that extreme conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, might constrain the beneficial effects of leadership behaviors.