The Delegitimization Cycle: How Toxic Leadership Erodes Employee Mental Health in Indonesian Workplaces
Abstract
Toxic leadership has become a serious organizational issue in Indonesia, particularly within high power-distance workplace cultures that normalize abusive authority and discourage employee voice. Despite growing research on destructive leadership, studies exploring employees’ lived psychological experiences remain limited. This study investigates how toxic leadership contributes to emotional exhaustion, psychological distress, organizational silence, and fear among employees in Indonesian private-sector organizations. Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with nine informants and analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings reveal four major themes: delegitimization of employee agency, emotional exhaustion, organizational silence shaped by fear and hierarchy, and coping strategies ranging from adaptation to withdrawal and turnover intention. The study concludes that toxic leadership is reinforced by paternalistic and hierarchical organizational cultures, highlighting the need for stronger psychological safety, leadership accountability, and supportive workplace policies.
References
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Cheng, B.-S., Chou, L.-F., Wu, T.-Y., Huang, M.-P., & Farh, J.-L. (2004). Paternalistic leadership and subordinate responses: Establishing a leadership model in Chinese organizations. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 7(1), 89–117. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-839X.2004.00137.x
Cohen, S., & Wills, T. A. (1985). Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98(2), 310–357. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.98.2.310
Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
De Hoogh, A. H. B., & Den Hartog, D. N. (2008). Ethical and despotic leadership, relationships with the leader's social responsibility, top management team effectiveness, and subordinates' optimism: A multi-method study. The Leadership Quarterly, 19(3), 297–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2008.03.002
Edmondson, A. C. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999
Hamid, S. A., Abdullah, A., & Ahmad, J. (2019). Paternalistic leadership and organizational commitment among employees in Javanese culture organizations. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 9(2), 199–214.
Hofstede, G. (1984). Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Husserl, E. (1913). Ideas: General introduction to pure phenomenology (W. R. Boyce Gibson, Trans.). Collier Books. (Original work published 1913)
Kahn, W. A. (1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, 33(4), 692–724. https://doi.org/10.5465/256287
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer.
Leiter, M. P., & Maslach, C. (2016). Burnout and engagement: Contributions to a new vision. Burnout Research, 3(4), 55–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.burn.2016.09.004
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. SAGE Publications.
Lipman-Blumen, J. (2005). The allure of toxic leaders: Why we follow destructive bosses and corrupt politicians and how we can survive them. Oxford University Press.
Luthans, F., & Doh, J. P. (2009). International management: Culture, strategy, and behavior (7th ed.). McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. E. (1981). The measurement of experienced burnout. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 2(2), 99–113. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.4030020205
Mathieu, C., Neumann, C. S., Hare, R. D., & Babiak, P. (2014). A dark side of leadership: Corporate psychopathy and its influence on employee well-being and job satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 59, 83–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.11.010
Morrison, E. W. (2014). Employee voice and silence. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1(1), 173–197. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091328
Morrison, E. W., & Milliken, F. J. (2000). Organizational silence: A barrier to change and development in a pluralistic world. Academy of Management Review, 25(4), 706–725. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2000.3707697
Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. SAGE Publications.
Nembhard, I. M., & Edmondson, A. C. (2006). Making it safe: The effects of leader inclusiveness and professional status on psychological safety and improvement efforts in health care teams. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27(7), 941–966. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.413
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Reed, G. (2004). Toxic leadership. Military Review, 84(4), 67–71.
Rosenthal, S. A., & Pittinsky, T. L. (2006). Narcissistic leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 17(6), 617–633. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2006.10.005
Ryan, K. D., & Oestreich, D. K. (1991). Driving fear out of the workplace: How to overcome the invisible barriers to quality, productivity, and innovation. Jossey-Bass.
Schmidt, A. A. (2014). Development and validation of the Toxic Leadership Scale. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 21(2), 174–184. https://doi.org/10.1177/1548051813519594
Seligman, M. E. P. (1975). Helplessness: On depression, development, and death. Freeman.
Smith, J. A., Flowers, P., & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method, and research. SAGE Publications.
Tepper, B. J. (2000). Consequences of abusive supervision. Academy of Management Journal, 43(2), 178–190. https://doi.org/10.5465/1556375
Tran, K. T. (2021). Toxic leadership and psychological distress among employees: Empirical evidence from Vietnamese organizations. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 29(4), 914–933. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-07-2020-2378
Van Dyne, L., Ang, S., & Botero, I. C. (2003). Conceptualizing employee silence and employee voice as multidimensional constructs. Journal of Management Studies, 40(6), 1359–1392. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6486.00384
Zhu, J., Song, L. J., Zhu, L., & Johnson, R. E. (2022). Visualizing the landscape and evolution of leadership research. The Leadership Quarterly, 30(2), 215–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.08.002
