The oxymoron of our times: Exploring how dysfunctional organizational leadership can serve as a catalyst for employee growth

Inusah Abdul-Nasiru; Eric Delle; Robert  Mensah; Daniel  Ofori

Inusah Abdul-Nasiru Department of Organisation and Human Resource Management, University of Ghana Business, Ghana https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4407-7953
Eric Delle Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, Ghana https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4869-4297
Robert Mensah Methodist University College, Accra, Ghana https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8021-2412
Daniel Ofori Department of Organisation and Human Resource Management, University of Ghana Business, Ghana

Keywords: toxic leadership behaviour, posttraumatic growth stress, resilience, emotional intelligence

Abstract

Despite the evidence from prior studies indicating that toxic leadership behaviour may potentially impede employee outcomes, research on the potential association between this leadership behaviour and employee growth has received limited scholarly and practitioner attention. Based on the Conservation of Resources theory, we argue that employees may undergo growth in the face of adversity. We investigated the direct impact of toxic leadership behaviour on posttraumatic growth stress, as well as the potential mediating effect of employee resilience and emotional intelligence on toxic leadership and posttraumatic growth stress, respectively. An anonymous and confidential online survey approach was utilised, and a total of 942 participants voluntarily completed it once. The participants were recruited from a diverse range of occupational contexts within the Ghanaian work context. The measures were found to be psychometrically sound in the study. The hierarchical multiple regression analysis suggests that toxic leadership behaviour, emotional intelligence, and resilience functions as a significant positive predictor of posttraumatic growth stress. Toxic leadership was associated with reduced resilience and emotional intelligence among employees, and toxic leadership behaviour impacted posttraumatic growth stress through emotional intelligence and resilience. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings have been discussed.