| Abstract [eng] |
Leaders’ professional wellbeing is a critical determinant for both positive employee and organizational outcomes, yet till this day empirical research on leaders’ well-being remains limited, especially when compared to the extensive body of work focused on employees. This study examines the determinants of leader’s professional wellbeing within the context of art festivals - a sector characterized by unique stressors such as rapid and cyclical team expansion, comparatively low remuneration, and irregular workloads, not typically present in more stable organizational environments. Qualitative research on Lithuanian art festivals aims to shed some empirical light on this sector’s leaders’ experiences of professional wellbeing, its determinants and approaches to handling them. The problem. How do art festival leaders manage their professional well-being factors? Subject. Management of professional well-being factors among art festival leaders. Purpose. To develop an art festival leaders’ professional well-being factors management model based on empirical evidence. Objectives: 1. To conceptually analyse the notion of professional well-being and its determinants from the perspective of leaders. 2. To identify the specific characteristics of art festival management and their implications for leaders’ professional well-being. 3. To create a conceptual art festival leaders’ professional well-being factors management model. 4. To refine the conceptual model after conducting an empirical analysis on how art festival leaders manage their professional well-being factors. Research methods. The theoretical framework was developed through scholarly literature and document analysis to systematize academic knowledge on professional well-being. Empirical data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis method. Results. The empirical findings reveal that Lithuanian art festival managers predominantly rely on individual strategies to manage their professional well-being. The proposed model identifies two primary pathways for addressing negative well-being factors: positive factors that can be used to compensate for negative experiences and professional wellbeing management methods, which help to resolve and manage the challenges posed by negative factors. Management methods concise of two levels, the first covers leaders’ attitudes and accumulated experience, which enable them to respond to negative factors with greater composure, while professional maturity provides the necessary internal resources to address challenges. The second level consists of two groups of management strategies: • Problem solving oriented strategies - this group consists of methods based on active challenges overcoming / planning, a healthy lifestyle that ensures resistance to stress, and external cooperation / social resources. • Emotion oriented strategies - this group includes methods of psychological and physical detachment from work in order to achieve a better work-life balance and help leaders to cope with stress. The study also highlights the importance of sustainable funding from the Lithuanian Council for Culture (LKT) and their long-term strategic programmes, suggesting that the Ministry of Culture should adjust the distribution of LKT-administered funds to support the retention of skilled art festival leaders and their professional well-being. Overall, the findings indicate that professional well-being is not shaped by isolated or short-term decisions but by strategic, long-term approaches that address both work-related and personal factors. |
