Leadership and destructive acts: Individual and situational influences

TLDR: In this paper, the authors assess the role of personality and situational influences on destructive interpersonal and organizational decisions and find that destructive individuals tended to make decisions that harmed the organization when self-efficacy was low.

Abstract: Leaders sometimes make decisions that harm organizational members and long-term organizational performance. The intent of the present study was to assess the role of personality and situational influences on destructive interpersonal and organizational decisions. Management majors were asked to complete a battery of personality and ability measures as part of a Regional Sales Manager Assessment Center. Additionally, they were asked to complete a 32-item “in-basket,” with eight items reflecting decisions that would harm others and eight items reflecting decisions that would harm the organization. Systematic manipulations were made in “in-basket” content to manipulate authority norms, feelings of self-efficacy, and psychological distance. It was found that destructive individuals tended to make decisions that harmed the organization when self-efficacy was low. However, they would not necessarily make decisions that harmed others unless actions of this sort were supported by authority. The implications of these findings for leadership and organizational performance are discussed.