Defeating the Toxic Boss: The Nature of Toxic Leadership and the Role of Followers

Abstract

Drawing on the findings from a multiple case study, we build a process model of toxic leadership and empirically illustrate the toxic leadership process and its outcomes. In doing so, we make two important contributions to current literature. First, we provide a theoretical model of the toxic leadership process that details the intent and outcomes of toxic leadership relative to other dark leadership styles: destructive, abusive, and ineffective. In doing so, we show that, although the intent of toxic leaders is relatively less harmful, the behaviors these leaders engage may be harmful for the organization. More specifically, we show that the primary intent of toxic leaders is to conceal lack of relevant competence and maintain a position of control, at the exclusion of other organizationally relevant objectives. To achieve their intent, toxic leaders engage in upward and downward directed influence attempts that create ambiguity and confusion, thus increasing the toxicity of the context and interfering with others’ ability to perform their work. Second, our findings suggest that followers are more agentic than previously suggested. We show that followers not only choose to unfollow their leaders but also actively work to neutralize the influence of toxic leaders through workarounds and learning. Followers have largely been neglected by the extant leadership literature, and thus, the agency they often display in leadership processes has been insufficiently examined.