Despotic Leadership and Front-Line Employee Deviant Work Behaviors in Service Organizations: The Roles of Moral Disengagement and Moral Identity

Abstract

Research on despotic leadership and its impacts on the behavior of front-line employees (FLE) in service organizations is nascent. Drawing on the social cognitive theory of morality, we develop and test a model in two service settings investigating the direct and indirect effects of despotic leadership on three FLE deviant work behaviors. In Study 1, using a multi-wave, multi-data source research design with data derived from banks, telecommunications, and training/education service organizations in Pakistan, we demonstrate the ecological validity of our constructs. In Study 2, using a multi-wave, multi-source longitudinal research design, we investigated these relationships in hotels located in Pakistan and confirmed the results found in Study 1 and also investigated the sustainability of deviant work outcomes. Cumulatively, we found support for the direct effects of despotic leadership on FLE deviant work behaviors. Moral disengagement acted as a partial mediator of these relationships and moral identity moderated the mediated relationship between despotic leadership and FLE deviant work behaviors via moral disengagement. Our findings provide a nuanced understanding of despotic leadership and FLE deviant work behaviors in service settings. We contribute to the front-line services literature stream by focusing on the supervisor and FLE interaction and highlighting research and practice implications.

The effects of servant leadership and despotic leadership on employees’ happiness at work (HAW): the role of job crafting

“…despotic leadership) are more prevalent and nurture in cultural contexts marked by unequal power and uncertainty avoidance that negatively affect employees' outcomes (Naseer et al, 2016;Islam et al, 2022;Nauman et al, 2018). In general, the findings of the present study echo previous research by illustrating the negative outcomes of despotic leadership (Son and Pak, 2023;Akhtar et al, 2023).…”