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Toxic
Toxic leadership: emotional leadership
distress and coping strategy
Asha Bhandarker
International Management Institute, New Delhi, India, and
65
Snigdha Rai
Mettl, Gurugram, India Received 12 March 2018
Revised 30 May 2018
Accepted 21 June 2018
Abstract
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the distressing impact of toxic leadership on the mental
state of the subordinates and examine the unique coping mechanisms used by them to deal with such leaders.
The paper also examined the relationship between psychological distress and coping strategy used by
subordinates to deal with the toxic leader.
Design/methodology/approach – This study presents a validity testing of two scales. The first scale was
designed to measure experienced psychological distress emanating from exposure to toxic leaders, and the
second scale aims to assess the coping strategies utilized by subordinates to deal with the toxic leaders. Data
were collected from 570 employees working in public as well as private organizations in India.
Findings – The results of this paper supported the theorized two three-dimensional tools to measure:
psychological distress (loss of self-worth, withdrawal and agitated) and coping strategies to deal with toxic
leaders (assertive coping, avoidance coping and adaptive coping). Reliability estimates and construct validity
of both the tools were established. The results also suggest that the loss of self-worth was negatively related
with assertive coping, avoidance coping and adaptive coping. However, withdrawal was positively related
with assertive coping and avoidance coping. Finally, agitation was positively related with avoidance and
adaptive coping.
Originality/value – To the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the rare studies to examine together the
phenomenon of both psychological distress experienced by subordinates and the coping strategies utilized by
them to deal with toxic leaders.
Keywords Psychological distress, Scale construction
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Generally speaking, “Leadership” has been equated with constructive leadership marked by
positive intentions, methods and consequences (Burns, 1978; Bennis, 1989). Increasingly,
however, the harmful and destructive impact of certain leaders on their constituencies is
also gaining the attention of researchers (Ashforth, 2003; Boddy, 2014; Collins and Jackson,
2015; Gallos, 2008; Goldman, 2009; Hoel et al., 2010; Kant et al., 2013; Padilla et al., 2007;
Rosenthal and Pittinsky, 2006; Shaw et al., 2011; Thoroughgood et al., 2012). The association
between the dark side of leadership and organizational dysfunction has been focused upon
by management scholars and practitioners over last four decades (Chatterjee and Hambrick
2007; Frost, 2003; Frost and Robinson, 1998; Kets de Vries, 1995; Knoll et al., 2016; Levinson,
1976; McCall and Lombardo, 1983). The construct of bad leadership has been given a
number of different names like leadership derailment (McCall and Lombardo, 1983),
negative or evil or dark leadership (Conger, 1990), toxic leadership (Lipman-Blumen, 2005),
despotic leadership (Bass and Stogdill, 1990), petty tyranny (Ashforth, 1997; Glasø et al.,
2018), abusive leaders (Tepper, 2000; Tepper et al., 2009), bad leadership (Kellerman, 2004),
narcissistic leaders (Rosenthal and Pittinsky, 2006), unethical leaders (Treviño et al., 2003),
aversive leadership (Bligh and Hess, 2007), destructive leadership (Einarsen et al., 2007) and
International Journal of
corporate psychopaths (Boddy et al., 2015; Boddy, 2017). Organization Theory & Behavior
In the present study, we have utilized the construct of toxic leadership, a major aspect Vol. 22 No. 1, 2019
pp. 65-78
of dark leadership, which “spreads insidiously and undetected like a poison and © Emerald Publishing Limited
1093-4537
contaminates not only individuals; it equally affects teams and ultimately the whole DOI 10.1108/IJOTB-03-2018-0027
IJOTB organization” (Goldman, 2008; Vreja et al., 2016). Lipman-Blumen (2005) describes toxic
22,1 leaders as “those who act without integrity by dissembling and engaging in various other
dishonorable behaviors, including behaviors such as corruption, hypocrisy, sabotage and
manipulation, as well as other assorted unethical, illegal, and criminal acts” (p. 18).
Other scholars (Pelletier, 2010; Schmidt, 2008) have also come up with their own
classification of toxic leader behaviors which includes divisiveness, laissez-faire,
66 promoting inequity, social exclusion and threatening followers’ security and self-esteem
According to Pelletier (2010), the leader can be considered toxic if the follower is
physically or psychologically harmed by the leader’s actions and it creates long-lasting
impairment in the subordinates. According to Illies and Reiter-Palmon (2008), toxic leaders
create conflicts and complicate the organizational environment by causing emotional
damage to their subordinates. It is equally interesting to note that the toxic leader never
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considers his/her behavior as negative and they always believe their behavior to be
socially acceptable (Maxwell, 2015; Schyns 2015).
Literature review
Research indicates that bad or toxic leadership is linked to several negative outcomes which
can be classified broadly into psychological- and performance-related outcomes. It is
important to note that stress and psychological well-being of the subordinates are the most
researched psychological outcomes of toxic leadership (Burris et al., 2008; Chen and Kao,
2009; Chua and Murray, 2015; Walton, 2007). Bad leadership is also significantly associated
with performance-related outcomes like decreased organizational commitment, injustice
perceptions, role conflict, interpersonal deviance and poor work-related attitudes among
subordinates (Duffy et al., 2002; Hoobler and Hu, 2013; Mawritz et al., 2012). Toxic leadership
is also found to be negatively associated with job satisfaction, job dedication and work
motivation (Aryee et al., 2008; Elangovan and Xie, 2000; Reed, 2004; Reed and Bullis, 2009;
Templer, 2018). The psychological impact of bad leaders on subordinates is discussed in
detail in the upcoming section.
behavior and wrongdoing by the leader to the higher authorities. This, however, is more
likely to take place when there is a prevalence of an ethical climate in the organization
(Cullen et al., 1993). Perceived fear of retaliation from the leader as well as from peers is a
precursor to an employee reporting toxic behaviors of the leader to a higher authority
(Keenan, 2002). In this case, the second method of coping with toxic leaders is used
where employees may either adapt or may choose to remain silent and turn a blind eye
toward the behaviors and actions of toxic leaders. This coping strategy can be labeled as
adaptive coping.
Finally, it has been found that employees tend to balance perceived unfair behavior of
toxic leaders by either avoiding them or having minimum interactions with such toxic
leader (Lubit, 2004). Active or passive avoidance behaviors include withholding
information, not sharing business problems or opportunities with the leader, not helping
other co-workers and disrupting operations in the organization (Thau et al., 2009; Tripp
et al., 2002). This method of coping with a toxic leader stems from the fact that while
working with toxic leaders, employees feel victimized and they experience a loss of control
over situations. They find ways by which they can feel a sense of control, although in a
vengeful and destructive fashion. Using active and passive avoidance strategies with the
toxic leaders helps subordinates to restore the perception of control, autonomy and most
importantly justice, albeit through negative actions (Greenberg, 1990).
Methodology
Stage 1
68 In the first phase of the study, two questionnaires were developed for assessment of
psychological distress experienced by subordinates’ due to toxic leaders and coping strategies
employed to deal with toxic leaders. In the first stage, a total of 35 senior managers
representing sectors like banking, automobile, oil and gas sector were interviewed. The
average age of respondents was 36 years and their average work experience was 12.5 years.
The interviews were semi-structured; they were conducted one to one and usually lasted
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60–90 min. Each respondent was asked to identify a leader whom he/she had worked with
earlier and whom he/she considered to be a bad/toxic leader. Each respondent was then asked
to give a detailed response on the following two open-ended questions:
(1) Share your experiences with the identified toxic leader, with whom you felt
uncomfortable to work with –with whom you would never like to work with
again – and explain how it affected you emotionally.
(2) Explain how you dealt with that leader.
Respondents were asked to keep a single toxic leader in mind with whom he/she had already
worked. The aim of applying such a restriction was to reduce the typical tendency to give
stereotypical and general responses and to thus elicit specific responses. Data collection and
qualitative data analysis occurred simultaneously as per Charmaz (2006) and Glaser and
Strauss (1968). Content analysis method suggested by Glaser and Strauss (1968) was used to
analyze the qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews. On the basis of
the content analysis of interview data, 20 items to measure psychological distress and
20 items to measure coping strategy were developed.
Stage 2
A panel of 20 researchers from the area of leadership and organizational behavior was
invited to evaluate 20 items of psychological distress and 20 items of coping with toxic
leader. Each participant was asked to independently rate each item in terms of its clarity,
redundancy and coherence with the constructs used in the study using a five-point rating
scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Items which received an
average rating of 4 and above were retained. As a result of this process, 15 items of
psychological distress and 16 items related to coping with a toxic leader were finalized after
some minor modifications in the framing of the items.
Stage 3
At this stage, primary data collection was conducted. The questionnaire was personally
administered. Respondents were asked to identify a toxic leader (whom he/she is working
presently or in the past) with whom they felt uncomfortable to work with. Respondents were
then asked to rate the level of psychological distress which they experienced working with
the toxic leader. Respondents also had to rate the coping strategies used to deal with the
identified leader. Respondents were assured of data anonymity and confidentiality.
Sample
Responses were obtained from 570 employees working in two public as well as two private
organizations in India. Data were collected after taking proper permission from authorities
in these organization. A total of 607 filled-in questionnaires were collected and 37 were Toxic
discarded due to incomplete response. Approximately two-third of the sample leadership
(73.33 percent) consist of male respondents. About 42 percent of respondents belonged to
the younger age group (up to 30 years); 19 percent to the moderate age group (31–45 years)
and finally almost 38 percent of the respondents represented higher age group (46 years and
above). Likewise, 41 percent respondents had less work experience (up to 5 years),
20 percent had moderate work experience (6–20 years) and nearly 39 percent had high work 69
experience (21 years and above). Sector-wise distribution of the sample was balanced as
approximately 54 percent of the respondents were from the private sector and 46 percent
represented the public sector.
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Measures
Psychological distress. This scale seeks to identify the emotional reactions that respondents
experienced while working with a toxic leader. Sample items include “angry,”
“losing confidence in myself” and “detached from work.” It consists of 15 items to be
rated by the respondent on a seven-point Likert scale, 1 being strongly disagree and 7 being
strongly agree.
Coping with the toxic leader. This scale attempts to identify the coping mechanisms used
by subordinates while working with a toxic leader. Sample items include “complained to the
higher authority,” “alienated and detached myself from the leader” and “tried to maintain
positive relationship with the leader.” The scale consists of 16 items, each to be rated on a
five-point Likert scale, 1 being never and 5 being always.
Results
Preliminary analysis
Since the data were collected using single survey instrument, Harmon one-factor test was
performed to test the influence of common method bias (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Factor
analysis using principal axis factoring was used to test if one factor explains the majority of
variance. The results indicate that single factor solution explained only 21.94 percent of
variance which is less than the critical method factor cut-off value of 25 percent suggested
by Williams et al. (1989). Therefore, it can be concluded that common method bias is not a
serious threat to the findings of the present study.
70
22,1
method)
Table I.
IJOTB
factor analysis
(maximum likelihood
Results of exploratory
Loss of Assertive Avoidance Adaptive
Items Mean SD self-worth Withdrawal Agitation coping coping coping Cronbach’s α
of the total variance, while β coefficient (β ¼ 0.297, p o0.05) revealed a significant positive
role of withdrawal in assertive coping. The second model which investigated the association
between psychological distress and avoidance coping is also significant (F ¼ 11.38,
p o0.05), while β coefficient suggests significant negative association between the loss of
self-esteem and avoidance coping (β ¼ −0.115, po 0.05). Whereas, withdrawal (β ¼ 0.153,
p o0.01) and agitated (β ¼ 0.187, p o0.01) are positively associated with avoidance coping.
Finally, the third model of adaptive coping as a criterion variable and psychological distress
as a predictor variable is also significant (F ¼ 6.00, p o0.01) and β coefficient suggests a
significant negative association between the loss of self-worth and adaptive coping
(β ¼ −0.115, p o0.05) and a positive association between agitated and adaptive coping
(β ¼ 0.197, p o0.01).
avoidance coping strategy to deal with toxic leaders maintain a distance or minimum
relationship with the leader and try to avoid meeting him/her as much as possible. Finally,
adaptive coping strategy was characterized with the use of adaptive mechanisms by the
subordinates like maintaining a positive relationship with the leader. Even if they got
furious with the toxic leader’s behavior, they sought to control their anger and wait for the
right time to discuss.
The present study proposed and tested the impact of toxic leadership on the emotional
and psychological state of the subordinates. Findings of the present study reveal that
respondents reported a prominent level of irritation, anger and frustration followed with a
higher sense of insecurity, frustration and detachment from work while working with toxic
leaders. Findings of the present study are similar to the study by Rafferty and Restubog
(2011) who also reported a positive association between abusive leadership and
psychological distress (the extent to which subordinates reported anxiety, fear and
depression over the previous month). The study also identified and analyzed different
coping mechanisms used by the subordinates to manage with toxic leaders. In the present
study, it was found that subordinates reported higher usage of adaptive coping, rather than
assertive and avoidance coping mechanisms to deal with toxic bosses. The respondents
considered working with the toxic leader as a “bad phase” which would ultimately pass. It is
also important to note here that when they are treated badly, respondents do not react
immediately and continued to maintain a positive relationship with the toxic leaders,
perhaps because their present evaluations as well as future career progress were at stake.
The second most used coping strategy used by subordinates to manage working with the
toxic leaders was the avoidance strategy. According to the findings of the study,
subordinates reported that they tried to maintain maximum distance, least possible
communication and interpersonal relations with the toxic leader. The most detrimental
aspect of avoidance approach is to withhold information about business problems and
opportunities from the toxic leader. Besides this, employees who feel victimized by toxic
leaders develop a desire for retaliation against those supervisors responsible for their
psychological distress (Ambrose et al., 2002). Greenberg (1990) suggested that employees
who worked with toxic leaders often engage in retribution to reinstate a sense of justice.
According to Duffy et al. (2002), subordinates often use obscure strategies like spreading
rumors, silently disobeying and censoring information from supervisors which impacts a
toxic boss negatively over time. This can also vitiate the atmosphere and poison the work
culture and climate of the organization. Last but not the least, some of the respondents also
reported the use of assertive coping mechanisms like open protest and trying to mobilize the
opinion of others against the toxic leader. Respondents also reported that they have
complained to higher authorities or officers’ associations, sometimes openly and sometimes
anonymously. But most important of all, in the extreme case, respondent have also indicated
that they quit the organization because of the toxic behavior of their respective bosses.
Such a move is the definitive strategy to reduce stress levels as well as negative emotions Toxic
caused by the perceived mistreatment by the toxic leader. Above all, in due course leaving leadership
the job is a retaliatory act which helps to restore the perceptions of control and autonomy
among the subordinates (Mitchell and Ambrose, 2007).
The results clearly bring out that agitated is at the first level of the intensity of emotional
distress; followed by withdrawal at the second-level distress intensity and finally there is
loss of self-worth which may be the highest level of distress intensity. The coping responses 73
are also calibrated accordingly. Thus, those who experience agitated (relatively mild level)
while working with toxic leaders, attempt to use the coping strategy of adaptation followed
by avoidance. Those subordinates who reported a high degree of withdrawal while working
with toxic leaders (moderate level of intensity of emotional distress), actively cope by being
assertive and they try to handle the situation to the best of their ability. This level of
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psychological distress still gives the subordinates the strength to act and even fight back.
Finally, higher the loss of self-worth (highest intensity of emotional distress) lower the use of
either of the three coping strategies mentioned above, indicating a tendency to give up.
(Aldwin, 1994; Lazarus and Folkman, 1984; Nielsen and Knardahl, 2014). Thus, when there
is no hope of the situation changing, there is no effort made to cope. Although the person is
physically present in the organization, he or she is not there in every other way.
Practical implications
This study has important implications for leaders as well and for their respective
organizations. Organizations should take timely proactive actions for identification and
correction or elimination of toxic leaders present in their respective organizations, otherwise
it become difficult to control the bad word-of-mouth spread against organization on social
media like LinkedIn and Glassdoor. Additionally, it is observed that toxic leaders often give
immediate results, but they make their subordinates suffer. An important implication from
the findings of the study is the suggestion that organizations should be aware and
cautiously analyze the performance before rewarding toxic leaders. In addition,
organizations should also devise anonymous whistle-blowing mechanisms, so that
subordinates can expose the wrongdoings of toxic leaders. If subordinates silently adapt to
the whims and fancies of toxic leaders, it is detrimental for both subordinate as well as
organizational performance. Moreover, passive coping strategies like maintaining distance,
avoiding communication and most importantly, withholding organizationally relevant
information from the leaders can have a direct destructive impact on both employees and
organizational performance. Besides, it results in creating a toxic work environment which
leads the whole organization into a vicious cycle of discouragement and delinquency.
Institutionalizing formal HR practices to address employees’ complaints may help to reduce
the negative effects of toxic leadership. The presence of such leaders in the organization
especially at very senior levels can create a culture of sycophancy in which people, in an
attempt to get close to those in power may become tale carriers, run down colleagues and in
general destroy team working and collaboration. These are some of the factors which
constrain an organization from reaching its full potential.
and coping strategy cannot be established. Hence, it is suggested that future research with
longitudinal design should be undertaken to support and strengthen the findings of the study.
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Corresponding author
Snigdha Rai can be contacted at: snigdhabhu@gmail.com
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