Cultural Values as Moderators of the Relationship between Destructive Leadership and Followers’ Job Satisfaction

Abstract

Prior organizational research has shown that destructive leadership adversely affects followers’ job satisfaction. However, we still have an incomplete understanding of why the strength of this relationship varies across contexts. In this study, we leverage implicit leadership theory to explain why cross-national differences in cultural values moderate this relationship. First, drawing on implicit leadership theory, we develop theory-based predictions about why the cultural value dimensions from the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) study explain differences in the strength of this relationship across countries. Then, we aggregate findings from 51 primary studies ( k = 51, N = 16,870) conducted across 12 countries to test our hypotheses. Our results indicate that the negative relationship between destructive leadership and job satisfaction weakens in magnitude as uncertainty avoidance, future orientation, power distance, and assertiveness values increase. Conversely, the negative relationship between destructive leadership and job satisfaction strengthens in magnitude as institutional collectivism, in-group collectivism, humane orientation, performance orientation, and gender egalitarianism values increase. We also demonstrate the independent, relative, and collective predictive validity of GLOBE’s cultural values as moderators of the relationship between destructive leadership and followers’ job satisfaction. Collectively, our findings (1) indicate that cross-national differences exist in the relationship between destructive leadership and followers’ job satisfaction and (2) highlight the need to consider destructive leadership in light of the broader cultural context in which it is being examined.