Suffering From Their Own Passiveness: A Leader-Centric Investigation of Laissez-Faire Leadership

Abstract

Prior research has shown that laissez-faire leadership can have detrimental consequences on employees and organizations such as increased unethical behavior, workplace incivility, and employee burnout. However, little is known about the relationship between laissez-faire leadership and important leader outcomes. Based on social information processing theory and conservation of resources theory, laissez-faire leadership is likely positively related to follower counterproductive work behavior, which was predicted to indirectly relate to leader turnover intentions through leader emotional ill-being (i.e., negative affect, emotional exhaustion). Additionally, theory suggests that performance pressure would exacerbate the serial indirect relationship between laissez-faire leadership and leader turnover intentions. Two time-lagged studies of full-time working leaders (N = 533) across a variety of industries and cultures showed support for the hypothesized serial mediation in both Study 1 and Study 2, but Study 2 failed to provide support for the moderating hypothesis regarding performance pressure. The studies' results contribute to the literature by demonstrating how laissez-faire leadership can be related to significant negative consequences for both followers and the leaders themselves.