Objective: To describe and analyse different views of health promoting leadership among actors involved in workplace health promotion in eight Swedish municipalities.
Methods: Twenty individuals were interviewed and their views were analysed according to the methodology of phenomenograpic research, exploring how health promoting leadership was described, what motives were expressed, and what critical conditions were perceived for developing such leadership.
Results: The informants described health promoting leadership in three ways: organising health promoting activities, having a supportive leadership style, and developing a health promoting workplace. The motives mentioned for developing health promoting leadership were instrumental motives and improved health. The critical conditions for health promoting leadership were organisational conditions, characteristics of individual managers, and support to managers.
Conclusions: It seems that the concept of health promoting leadership was often used to link ideas about good leadership to the health of employees. Organisational goals and management trends may also have influenced the motives as well as the conditions for development of health promoting leadership.