The Relationship of Downward Mobbing with Leadership Style and Organizational Attitudes

• Published in: Journal of business ethics Vol. 116; no. 1; pp. 205 - 216
• Main Authors: Ertureten, Aysegul, Cemalcilar, Zeynep, Aycan, Zeynep
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01-08-2013; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Applied psychology; Attitudes; Authoritarian leadership; Authoritarianism; Behavior; Bullying; Business and Management; Business Ethics; Education; Employee supervision; Employee turnover; Employees; Ethics; Human aggression; Interpersonal relationships. Groups. Leadership; Job satisfaction; Leadership; Management; Management styles; Organizational behavior; Organizational behaviour; Perceptions; Philosophy; Quality of Life Research; Questionnaires; Sexual harassment; Social psychology; Sociology; Sociology of work; Sociology of work and sociology of organizations; Studies; Turkey; Work organization. Working relations; Workplace bullying; Workplaces; Turkey; Turkey; Paternalistic leadership; Transformational leadership; Transactional leadership; Mobbing; Authoritarian leadership; Leadership style; Organizational attitudes; Leadership; Transformation; Attitude; Authoritarianism; Job Satisfaction; Paternalism; Style; Harassment; Subordinate-superior relation
• ISSN: 0167-4544; 1573-0697
• DOI: 10.1007/s10551-012-1468-2

The present study investigates (1) the relationship of different leadership styles (transactional, transformational, authoritarian, paternalistic) with mobbing behaviors of superiors (i.e., downward mobbing) and (2) organizational attitudes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intention) of mobbing victims. Data were collected from 251 white-collar employees. Path analysis findings showed that transformational and transactional leadership decreased the likelihood of mobbing, whereas authoritarian leadership increased it. Paternalistic leadership was mildly and negatively associated with mobbing. Regarding the consequences of mobbing for employees' organizational attitudes, the same analyses suggested that higher perceptions of downward mobbing was significantly associated with lower job satisfaction, lower affective commitment, higher continuous commitment, and higher turnover intention.