Harmful Leader Behaviors: Toward an Increased Understanding of How Different Forms of Unethical Leader Behavior Can Harm Subordinates

Juliana Guedes Almeida (), Deanne N. Den Hartog, Annebel H. B. Hoogh (), Vithor Rosa Franco () and Juliana Barreiros Porto ()
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Juliana Guedes Almeida: University of Amsterdam
Deanne N. Den Hartog: University of Amsterdam
Annebel H. B. Hoogh: University of Amsterdam
Vithor Rosa Franco: São Francisco University
Juliana Barreiros Porto: University of Brasilia

Journal of Business Ethics, 2022, vol. 180, issue 1, No 13, 215-244

Abstract: Abstract Research on unethical leadership has predominantly focused on interpersonal and high-intensity forms of harmful leader behavior such as abusive supervision. Other forms of harmful leader behavior such as excessively pressuring subordinates or acting in self-centered ways have received less attention, despite being harmful and potentially occurring more frequently. We propose a model of four types of harmful leader behavior (HLB) varying in intensity (high vs low) and orientation (people/relationships or tasks/goals): Intimidation, Lack of Care, Self-Centeredness, and Excessive Pressure for Results. We map out how these relate to other constructs in the unethical leader behavior field in order to integrate the existing work on how leaders can cause harm to followers. Next, in five studies (N = 35, N = 218, N = 352, N = 160, N = 1921 in 196 teams), we develop and test a new survey instrument measuring the four proposed types of perceived HLB. We provide initial validity evidence for this new measure, establish its psychometric properties, and examine its nomological network by linking the four types of HLB to related leadership constructs and soft and hard outcome correlates at the individual and team level. We find that HLB is negatively related to constructive forms of leadership (e.g., ethical and transformational) and positively to unethical ones (e.g., abusive supervision). HLB is also related in the expected direction to job satisfaction, engagement, psychological safety, knowledge sharing, knowledge hiding, deviance, and objectively recorded team-level stress-related absenteeism.

Keywords: Harmful leader behavior; Unethical leadership; Destructive leadership; Scale development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-021-04864-7

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