IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v186y2023i2d10.1007_s10551-022-05184-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Leadership and Workplace Aggression: A Meta-analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Wenrui Cao

    (Utrecht University)

  • Peikai Li

    (Ghent University)

  • Reine van der Wal

    (Utrecht University)

  • Toon Taris

    (Utrecht University)

Abstract

Workplace aggression (bullying, incivility, and similar forms of interpersonal mistreatment) has been established as a prevalent and detrimental issue in organizations. While numerous studies have documented the important role of leaders in inhibiting or accelerating workplace aggression, a systematic overview of the associations between different leadership styles and workplace aggression as well as its boundary conditions is still lacking. This study reports a meta-analysis investigating the associations between leadership and workplace aggression. Drawing on data from 165 samples (N = 115,190), our results revealed that change-oriented, relational-oriented, and values-based and moral leadership (but not task-oriented leadership) were associated with reduced workplace aggression. In contrast, passive and destructive leadership (i.e., abusive, narcissistic, uncivil, and authoritarian) were associated with increased workplace aggression. Importantly, relative weights analyses revealed that ethical leadership was most strongly negatively associated with workplace aggression. Additionally, moderation analyses revealed that the associations between leadership and workplace aggression were, in some cases, moderated by power distance (for transactional leadership) and rating sources (for transformational and abusive supervision), but independent of measurement time lag. Overall, the findings of this meta-analysis highlight the important associations between leadership and workplace aggression. Implications for future research and policy recommendations aiming to reduce workplace aggression are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Wenrui Cao & Peikai Li & Reine van der Wal & Toon Taris, 2023. "Leadership and Workplace Aggression: A Meta-analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(2), pages 347-367, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:186:y:2023:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-022-05184-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-022-05184-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-022-05184-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-022-05184-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeroen Stouten & Elfi Baillien & Anja Broeck & Jeroen Camps & Hans Witte & Martin Euwema, 2010. "Discouraging Bullying: The Role of Ethical Leadership and its Effects on the Work Environment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 95(1), pages 17-27, September.
    2. Sue Duval & Richard Tweedie, 2000. "Trim and Fill: A Simple Funnel-Plot–Based Method of Testing and Adjusting for Publication Bias in Meta-Analysis," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 56(2), pages 455-463, June.
    3. Ahmad, Saima, 2018. "Can ethical leadership inhibit workplace bullying across East and West: Exploring cross-cultural interactional justice as a mediating mechanism," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 223-234.
    4. David Moher & Alessandro Liberati & Jennifer Tetzlaff & Douglas G Altman & The PRISMA Group, 2009. "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
    5. Haesang Park & Jenny M. Hoobler & Junfeng Wu & Robert C. Liden & Jia Hu & Morgan S. Wilson, 2019. "Abusive Supervision and Employee Deviance: A Multifoci Justice Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(4), pages 1113-1131, September.
    6. Thomas Rockstuhl & Robert Eisenberger & Lynn M. Shore & James N. Kurtessis & Michael T. Ford & Louis C. Buffardi & Salar Mesdaghinia, 2020. "Perceived organizational support (POS) across 54 nations: A cross-cultural meta-analysis of POS effects," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(6), pages 933-962, August.
    7. Astrauskaite, Milda & Notelaers, Guy & Medisauskaite, Asta & Kern, Roy M., 2015. "Workplace harassment: Deterring role of transformational leadership and core job characteristics," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 121-135.
    8. Arpana Rai & Upasna A. Agarwal, 2018. "A review of literature on mediators and moderators of workplace bullying," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 41(7), pages 822-859, April.
    9. Arpana Rai & Upasna A. Agarwal, 2018. "A review of literature on mediators and moderators of workplace bullying," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 41(7), pages 822-859, April.
    10. Akanksha Bedi & Can M. Alpaslan & Sandy Green, 2016. "A Meta-analytic Review of Ethical Leadership Outcomes and Moderators," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 517-536, December.
    11. Fernando R. Feijó & Débora D. Gräf & Neil Pearce & Anaclaudia G. Fassa, 2019. "Risk Factors for Workplace Bullying: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-25, May.
    12. Cortina, Lilia M. & Rabelo, Verónica Caridad & Holland, Kathryn J., 2018. "Beyond Blaming the Victim: Toward a More Progressive Understanding of Workplace Mistreatment," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 81-100, March.
    13. Christine Henle & Michael Gross, 2014. "What Have I Done to Deserve This? Effects of Employee Personality and Emotion on Abusive Supervision," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(3), pages 461-474, July.
    14. Jingxian Yao & Sandy Lim & Cathy Yang Guo & Amy Ou & Jomel Wei Xuan Ng, 2021. "Experienced incivility in the workplace: A meta-analytical review of its construct validity and nomological network," Post-Print hal-03267656, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gülüm Özer & İdil Işık & Jordi Escartín, 2024. "Is There Somebody Looking out for Me? A Qualitative Analysis of Bullying Experiences of Individuals Diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(2), pages 1-22, January.
    2. Viktoria Maria Baumeister & Leonie Petra Kuen & Maike Bruckes & Gerhard Schewe, 2021. "The Relationship of Work-Related ICT Use With Well-being, Incorporating the Role of Resources and Demands: A Meta-Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, November.
    3. Lianjie Liu & Zhuo Shao & Hang Yu & Wei Zhang & Hao Wang & Zubing Mei, 2020. "Is the platelet to lymphocyte ratio a promising biomarker to distinguish acute appendicitis? Evidence from a systematic review with meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-15, May.
    4. Ioana A Cristea & Robin N Kok & Pim Cuijpers, 2016. "The Effectiveness of Cognitive Bias Modification Interventions for Substance Addictions: A Meta-Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(9), pages 1-19, September.
    5. Je-Young Lee & Minkyung Baek, 2023. "Effects of Gamification on Students’ English Language Proficiency: A Meta-Analysis on Research in South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-19, July.
    6. Martin Polak & Norbert Tanzer & Per Carlbring, 2022. "PROTOCOL: Effects of virtual reality exposure therapy versus in vivo exposure in treating social anxiety disorder in adults: A systematic review and meta‐analysis," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(3), September.
    7. Muthanna Samara & Bruna Da Silva Nascimento & Aiman El-Asam & Sara Hammuda & Nabil Khattab, 2021. "How Can Bullying Victimisation Lead to Lower Academic Achievement? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Mediating Role of Cognitive-Motivational Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-21, February.
    8. Zhao-Feng Chen & Lufei Young & Chong Ho Yu & S. Pamela K. Shiao, 2018. "A Meta-Prediction of Methylenetetrahydrofolate-Reductase Polymorphisms and Air Pollution Increased the Risk of Ischemic Heart Diseases Worldwide," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-16, July.
    9. Chun-Yu Chang & Po-Chen Lin & Yung-Jiun Chien & Chien-Sheng Chen & Meng-Yu Wu, 2020. "Analysis of Chest-Compression Depth and Full Recoil in Two Infant Chest-Compression Techniques Performed by a Single Rescuer: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-17, June.
    10. Mohith M. Varma & Shengzi Zeng & Laura Singh & Emily A. Holmes & Jingyun Huang & Man Hey Chiu & Xiaoqing Hu, 2024. "A systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental methods for modulating intrusive memories following lab-analogue trauma exposure in non-clinical populations," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 8(10), pages 1968-1987, October.
    11. Woodley of Menie, Michael A. & Peñaherrera-Aguirre, Mateo & Sarraf, Matthew A., 2022. "Signs of a Flynn effect in rodents? Secular differentiation of the manifold of general cognitive ability in laboratory mice (Mus musculus) and Norwegian rats (Rattus norvegicus) over a century—Results," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    12. Teresa Del Giudice & Carla Cavallo & Francesco Caracciolo & Gianni Cicia, 2015. "What attributes of extra virgin olive oil are really important for consumers: a meta-analysis of consumers’ stated preferences," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-15, December.
    13. Beaulieu, Myriam & Tremblay, Joël & Baudry, Claire & Pearson, Jessica & Bertrand, Karine, 2021. "A systematic review and meta-analysis of the efficacy of the long-term treatment and support of substance use disorders," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    14. Se Young Kim & Mi-Kyoung Cho, 2022. "The Effect of Nurse Support Programs on Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behaviors among Hospital Nurses: A Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-23, December.
    15. Trood, Michael D. & Spivak, Benjamin L. & Ogloff, James R.P., 2021. "A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of judicial supervision on recidivism and well-being factors of criminal offenders," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    16. Sergio Nolazco & Kaspar Delhey & Shinichi Nakagawa & Anne Peters, 2022. "Ornaments are equally informative in male and female birds," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    17. Xin Zhang & Bai Gao & Bing Xu, 2020. "No association between the vitamin D-binding protein (DBP) gene polymorphisms (rs7041 and rs4588) and multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes mellitus: A meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-10, November.
    18. Yucheon Kim & Songyi Lee, 2023. "A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Non-Face-to-Face Coaching," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-15, June.
    19. Ferrero, Marta & Vadillo, Miguel A. & León, Samuel P., 2021. "A valid evaluation of the theory of multiple intelligences is not yet possible: Problems of methodological quality for intervention studies," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    20. Yejun Zhang & Mark C. Bolino & Kui Yin, 2023. "The Interactive Effect of Perceived Overqualification and Peer Overqualification on Peer Ostracism and Work Meaningfulness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(3), pages 699-716, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:186:y:2023:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-022-05184-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.