Dark clouds of leadership: causes and consequences of toxic leadership

Adebisi Inako Akinyele and Ziguang Chen

International Studies of Management & Organization, 2025, vol. 55, issue 4, 476-503

Abstract: Despite the preponderance of literature on the dark side of leadership and its consequences for employees and organizations, there remains a need for more research on toxic leadership. Previous research has conceptualized toxic leadership differently, and existing measurement dimensions are not standardized and omit crucial behaviors like power quest, psychopathy, and corruption. Recent studies have shown that toxic leadership—a multifaceted and destructive leadership style characterized by negative managerial techniques—has detrimental consequences on many organizations, societies, and countries. Specifically, employees require ethical leadership to uphold healthy culture, improve psychological well-being, and sustain productivity. To address the lack of theoretical understanding, we present a narrative review that critically examines toxic leadership research to provide a comprehensive catalog using an integrative framework (antecedents, mediators, moderators, and outcomes) and identify three major challenges in this field. First, is toxic leadership effectively conceptualized? Second, is toxic leadership adequately measured, or is the measurement undermined by conceptual ambiguity? Finally, do existing studies provide a sufficient theoretical foundation to understand the causes, consequences, and cascading effects of toxic leadership? We synthesize our recommendations for rethinking the conceptualization, measurement, empirical, and theoretical study of toxic leadership, and propose a theoretical model for further research.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/00208825.2024.2442185

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