The Effects of Toxic Leadership on Employee Happiness
1ATAKPU Emmanuel Ora, 2BELLO Sunday Ade,3NDAYAKO Aishetu Gogo
1 Doctoral Scholar, Department of Business Management, Northwest International University, Armenia.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-8641-5846
2Visiting Professor, School of Business Management, Entrepreneurship and Leadership, Northwest International University, Armenia.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2671-1586
3Permanent Secretary, Ecological Project Office, The Presidency, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Federal Republic of Nigeria.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8867-0204
https://doi.org/10.47191/jefms/v8-i2-13
ABSTRACT:
This study explores the effects of toxic leadership traits, such as narcissism, autocracy, discriminatory behavior, and leadership insecurity, on various aspects of employee happiness, including job satisfaction, work environment, compensation, and professional development. A total of 92 respondents from professional WhatsApp groups were selected using purposive and snowball sampling. Data were collected through validated questionnaires on toxic leadership and employee happiness and analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation, as well as linear regression. Results show a moderate negative correlation between toxic leadership and employee happiness (r = -0.5189). The regression analysis revealed that when leadership toxicity was zero, employee happiness was 797.825, and for every unit increase in leadership toxicity, employee happiness decreased by 2.146 units. To mitigate toxic leadership, it is recommended that organizations regularly assess leadership toxicity for decisions related to training, promotion, and compensation. Future research should focus on gender-based comparisons of toxic leadership, sector-specific studies, and exploring the link between toxic leadership and productivity.
KEYWORDS:
Compensation, Employee happiness, Job satisfaction, Toxic leadership, Work environment Word Count: 159
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