Another focus of the present study is to examine the mediating role of work motivation in the JD-R leadership model by drawing on the main premises of SDT. The focus is on one specific facet of motivation, namely, intrinsic motivation (as a form of autonomous motivation), which is defined as “the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfactions rather than for some separable consequence” [
33]. If people are intrinsically motivated to perform a task, they do so for its own sake, because they perceive the task as interesting and pleasurable [
33]. Following the premises of SDT, nurses will feel intrinsically motivated and healthier when they find themselves in a work environment providing them with sufficient job resources, such as autonomy, skill use, opportunities for growth and development, performance feedback. On the other hand, a demanding work environment in which nurses experience excessive job demands such as high workloads, emotional demands and a lot of bureaucracy might not only reduce their work motivation but also put them at a higher risk for burnout.
Engaging leaders are expected to behave in such a way that they fulfil their followers’ work-related basic needs [
11] which, in turn, is expected to fuel intrinsic motivation [
34]. Schaufeli [
11] proposes four components of EL, namely, empowering, strengthening, inspiring, and connecting. These may shape nurses’ perceptions of their work environment, thereby nurturing their work motivation. First, engaging leaders empower nurses by giving them a voice and by recognizing their ownership. As a result, they will experience more autonomy and control over their own job which is likely to foster their intrinsic motivation. Second, nurses are strengthened, because engaging leaders assign them challenging tasks stimulating their talents and skills. Through strengthening, leaders foster nurses’ feeling of mastery and competence, particularly through positive feedback, which are considered as one of the prerequisites for the development of intrinsic motivation. Third, nurses are inspired to work towards an overall goal of the team or organization driven by a commitment to a vision and encouraged by their leader. The leader further acknowledges each member’s individual contribution towards the overall goal, which will increase nurses’ experience that their work is meaningful, and their contribution makes a difference. As a result, they are likely to become intrinsically motivated. Finally, engaging leaders connect their followers, for example, by fostering collaboration and a strong team spirit. In doing so, they promote a work environment characterized by a sense of security and relatedness in which nurses’ intrinsic motivation is expected to flourish. Hence, by empowering, strengthening, inspiring, and connecting, engaging leaders are considered to create favourable working conditions characterized by feelings of autonomy, competence, meaning, and relatedness which in turn will increase nurses’ intrinsic motivation. This experience is likely to result in higher levels of work engagement and well-being. Previous studies have mainly focused on the concept of transformational leadership. Research on EL is, however, relatively new and has not widely been researched yet. Nevertheless, SDT-based research generally supports this assumption [
35,
36]. For instance, a meta-analytic review shows that a work environment where leaders support their employees to work autonomously is not only beneficial for the satisfaction of employees’ basic needs but also for their (intrinsic) motivation [
37]. While the researchers found that leader autonomy support was positively related to intrinsic motivation, it showed, on the other hand, negative associations with employees’ distress (i.e., burnout and work stress). These findings find support by Slemp et al. [
38] who conducted a meta-analytic review of 72 studies on the motivational processes and consequences of leader autonomy support in the workplace—behaviours that may be also typical of EL. Furthermore, Fernet et al. [
36] showed that (transformational) leadership was significantly related to nurse well-being by contributing to favourable working conditions and intrinsic motivation.