RT Article
T1 Bad Apples, Bad Barrels, and Broken Followers? An Empirical Examination of Contextual Influences on Follower Perceptions and Reactions to Aversive Leadership
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 100
IS 4
SP 647
OP 672
A1 Thoroughgood, Christian N.
A1 Hunter, Samuel T.
A1 Sawyer, Katina B.
A2 Hunter, Samuel T.
A2 Sawyer, Katina B.
LA English
YR 2011
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1785641956
AB Research on destructive leadership has largely focused on leader characteristics thought to be responsible for harmful organizational outcomes. Recent findings, however, demonstrate the need to examine important contextual factors underlying such processes. Thus, the present study sought to determine the effects of an organization’s climate and financial performance, as well as the leader’s gender, on subordinate perceptions of and reactions (i.e., whistle-blowing intentions) to aversive leadership, a form of destructive leadership based on coercive power. 302 undergraduate participants read through a series of vignettes describing a fictional organization, its employees, and an aversive leader in charge of the company’s sales department. They were then asked to envision themselves as subordinates of the leader and respond to several quantitative measures and open-ended questions. Consistent with Padilla and colleagues' (2007) toxic triangle theory, results suggest that both perceptions and reactions to aversive leadership depend on the three aforementioned factors. Specifically, aversive leaders were perceived more aversively and elicited greater whistle-blowing intentions in financially unstable organizations possessing climates intolerant of negative leader behavior. Moreover, female aversive leaders were perceived more aversively than their male counterparts under such conditions. Theoretical and practical implications as well as future research directions are also discussed.
K1 romance of leadership
K1 Organizational Climate
K1 Leadership
K1 gender and leadership
K1 destructive leadership
K1 aversive leadership
DO 10.1007/s10551-010-0702-z