Toxic leadership as a predictor of physical and psychological withdrawal behaviours in the healthcare sector

ABSTRACT

The current study aims to examine how toxic management styles can lead to both psychological and physical withdrawal of employees in the healthcare sector. The quantitative approach was used in this research. Preliminary data was collected through online questionnaires from 413 employees working in private and public hospitals and health centers in France. Structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses in the SmartPLS program. The research results indicate a direct positive effect of two styles of toxic leadership (unpredictability and authoritarian leadership) on physical withdrawal behaviors. The results also showed that self-promotion and unpredictability positively affect psychological withdrawal behaviors in hospitals and health centers. The results of the research can be useful for managing health centers to remove the behaviors of toxic leaders from the work environment and protect and support staff so that they can continue carrying out their duties.

KEYWORDS:

• France
• healthcare sector
• physical withdrawal
• psychological withdrawal
• toxic leadership

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

Open scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open Science badges for Open Data and Open Materials through Open Practices Disclosure. The data and materials are openly accessible at https://osf.io/c8m9t

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Omar Durrah

Omar Durrah is an associate professor and chairperson of management department in the college of commerce and business administration at Dhofar university, Sultanate of Oman. His research interests include human resources, psychology, organizational behavior, leadership styles, and entrepreneurship. Durrah got the National Research Award 2021.

Taher Alkhalaf

Taher AlKhalaf is an associate professor of Business Administration at several universities in France, Syria and the American University of California. He received his doctorate from the University of Caen. IAE: (Institut d'Administration des Entreprises). Taher Supervises Master and PhD researchs and member of jury for dissertations in Management. Taher's current research explores two topics: the study of entrepreneurship and innovation, business model innovation in economie.

Olga Sharbatji

Olga Charbatji is an assistant professor at Aleppo University, Syria, and an employee in the field of human resources at Linkoping University, Sweden. Her research interests include organizational behavior, human resources, and leadership styles and their various effects.