Unmasking the Dark Side of Leadership in Pakistan’s Banking Sector: How Exploitative Leadership Fuels Organization Cynicism: Mediated by Hostile Affect and Moderated by Conscientiousness

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship dynamics between exploitative leadership, conscientiousness, hostile affect, and organization cynicism among the employees of banking sector of Pakistan under the light of theoretical framework of Affective Events Theory (AET). This study aims to uncover the interactions between the said variables and their combine impact on organization cynicism. Exploitative leadership is proposed as independent variable, conscientiousness as moderating variable that influence the direct relationship between exploitative leader and hostile affect and influences the indirect relationship between exploitative leadership and organization cynicism through hostile affect. The hostile affect further mediates the relation between exploitative leadership and organization cynicism. This research followed the philosophy of positivism and quantitative data is gathered from the individuals working in private banks in Islamabad. The sample size consisted of 384 individuals. The time horizon of the study was cross-sectional and multistage cluster sampling technique is employed. The data was analyzed by using SPSS taking into account all possible ethical considerations and the empirical data evidence was used to educate the leaders to use strategies that mitigate the adverse effects of the exploitative leadership and promote a healthy organizational culture. The findings provide insights into the emotional processes triggered by negative leadership behaviors and their enduring impact on organizational attitudes.