When leaders victimize: The role of charismatic leaders in facilitating group pressures

The Relationship between Organizational Environment and Perpetrators’ Physical and Psychological State: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study

Although job-related work environment studies found associations to workplace bullying perpetration, little work with longitudinal designs has been conducted on broader organizational measures. Such studies could help design effective interventions for perpetration. Using a three-wave longitudinal design and drawing on cognitive activation theory, we investigated whether organizational trust and justice predicted perpetration six months later. The sample consisted of 2447 employees from Spain and Turkey from various industries, such as services, manufacturing, and education. We also investigated whether physical and psychological health explained the relationship between organizational trust, justice, and perpetration. The results indicated that, in three months, organizational justice negatively predicted psychological and physical health deterioration, while unexpectedly, organizational trust positively predicted the same. Health conditions did not predict perpetration, in three months, while organizational conditions did not predict perpetration directly or indirectly in six months. Assessing and improving organizational trust and justice practices may help employee health improve over time. As organizational trust, justice, and health status are significantly related to current perpetration incidents, assessments of these subjects may be instrumental in identifying possible current perpetration phenomena.

A Multiple Pathway Model Linking Charismatic Leadership Attempts and Abusive Supervision

Researchers have theorized about a link between destructive and charismatic leadership but have left this link rather unspecified. This paper discusses charismatic leadership as an antecedent of abusive supervision. Based on the charismatic leadership process, it specifies five distinct pathways that may lead from charismatic leadership attempts to abusive supervision: Overdramatized charisma with abusive supervision as an unintended consequence, overambitious charisma with abusive supervision as a stress reaction, refused charisma with abusive supervision as a reaction to frustration and provocation, disappointed charisma with abusive supervision as a reaction to threatened self-esteem and negative affect, and abandoned charisma with abusive supervision as a volitional change of influence tactics. This paper aims to introduce these five pathways resulting in theoretical propositions that may inspire future empirical research.