Authoritarian leadership, organizational citizenship behavior, and organizational deviance

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between authoritarian leadership, organizational citizenship behavior toward one’s supervisor (OCBS) and organizational deviance. The authors hypothesized curvilinear relationships between authoritarian leadership and OCBS, and between authoritarian leadership and organizational deviance. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyzed two-source survey data of 240 employee–supervisor dyads collected from seven organizations in Pakistan. Findings Employees exhibited most OCBS and least organizational deviance at intermediate levels of authoritarian leadership. Employees’ perception of a benevolent climate at work moderated the curvilinear relations. Research limitations/implications The authors cannot draw causal inferences because of cross-sectional data. Furthermore, the authors’ results may be limited to cultures with high collectivism and high power distance. Practical implications This study envisions and illuminates a new avenue of curvilinear relationships among authoritarian leadership, OCBS and organizational deviance. Originality/value The two sources (employee–supervisor dyads) data collected from seven organizations supported a unique curvilinear relationship between authoritarian leadership, OCBS and organizational deviance.