Can leadership quality buffer the association between emotionally demanding work and risk of long-term sickness absence?

We examined whether the association between emotionally demanding work and risk of register-based long-term sickness absence (LTSA, ≥6 weeks) was buffered by high leadership quality among 25 416 Danish employees during 52-week follow-up. Emotional demands were measured at the job group level, whereas leadership quality was measured by workers rating their closest manager. Emotionally demanding work was associated with a higher risk of LTSA, regardless if leadership quality was high or low, with neither multiplicative nor additive interaction. We conclude that we found no evidence for high leadership quality buffering the effect of emotionally demanding work on risk of LTSA.