Toxic leadership and organizational citizenship behavior: A mediation effect of followers trust and commitment in the middle east

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of toxic leadership on organizational citizenship behavior using followers’ commitment and trust as a mediator between toxic leadership and organizational outcomes.The data was collected through a questionnaire based survey administered on 660 employees working in public and private UAE based firms. Various statistical techniques such as structural equation modelling (SEM), t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to test the research hypotheses. The results indicate a significant negative correlation between Toxic Leadership (Abusive Supervision, Authoritarian Leadership, and Unpredictability) and Affiliation-oriented OCB. Narcissism and Self-Promotion sub-scales of toxic leadership have no ignificant relationships with affiliation-oriented OCBs and challenge-oriented OCBs. Most notably, the results indicate a significant strong and positive correlation between Challenge-oriented OCB and Followers’ Trust. The study explores the complicated connections that can probably occur between the various attributes of toxic leaders, followers’ OCB, and the organizational outcomes that tribute to this complex process, and is one of the first of its kind which has conceptually and empirically examined the followers’ perceptions and reactions to the different forms of toxic leadership in a collectivistic society.