Impact of leadership styles on healthcare workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - Scoping Review

Thesis

Objective: This dissertation presents a scoping review on the impact of leadership styles on healthcare workers within healthcare organizations across the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Background: Healthcare systems in the GCC are undergoing ambitious reforms, characterized by rapid expansion, centralised governance, and a heavy reliance on expatriate healthcare workers. These dynamics create challenges of high turnover, pay inequities, and complex nationalisation policies. In this environment, leadership plays a critical role in shaping morale, resilience, and performance, yet little is known about how different leadership styles are enacted or experienced by healthcare workers in the region. Methods: Guided by the JBI methodology and PRISMA-ScR checklist, the review applied the Population–Concept–Context framework. A systematic search of four databases, including Arabic and English papers with no date restrictions, identified 51 eligible studies. Data were charted to map leadership styles, their impacts on healthcare workers, and contextual influences. Results: Transformational leadership was most frequently studied and linked mainly to positive outcomes such as job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and work engagement, though some studies showed mixed effects. Authentic, democratic, empowering, and servant leadership also demonstrated favourable impacts, often mediated by trust and empowerment. Transactional and autocratic styles had mixed effects, providing clarity and stability in high-pressure contexts but undermining morale when dominant. Laissez-faire, toxic, and dysfunctional leadership were consistently associated with dissatisfaction, burnout, and reduced loyalty. Impacts were shaped by contextual factors, including rigid hierarchies, expatriate–national dynamics, and inequities in pay and progression. Most studies came from Saudi Arabia, with a concentration on public-sector nurses, leaving physicians, other clinical and non-clinical healthcare workers, and private-sector settings underrepresented. Conclusions: The review highlights the need for context-sensitive leadership frameworks tailored to the structural and cultural realities of GCC healthcare organizations, while also identifying gaps in methodology and population diversity. It provides a foundation for future leadership development and workforce policy in the region.

Authors: Albastaki, I

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-zby5pzdy9
• Type of award: MSc
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: leadership style; GCC; healthcare; healthcare workers; impact
• Subjects: Health