Coping With Destructive Leadership
Putting Forward an Integrated Theoretical Framework for the Interaction Process Between Leaders and Followers
Abstract
The emerging literature on destructive leadership has been mostly leader centric, often reducing followers to passive subordinates. In line with recent follower-focused approaches to leadership, this theoretical contribution aims at shedding light on the interaction process between leaders and followers and on the active part followers can play in triggering as well as curbing destructive leader behavior. Specifically, we analyze in what ways followers can cope with destructive leadership and how the confrontativeness of the chosen coping strategy in turn affects leaders’ perceptions and resultant behaviors. The proposed interaction model – where subordinate coping is both consequence and antecedent of destructive leadership – offers testable propositions for future research and opens up new avenues for understanding and handling destructive leadership.
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