The role of leadership in organizational culture was clearly identified by
Schein (1985). Subsequent studies have observed the link between
positive leadership and the sustainability of organisational life (Peirò,
Svicher & Di Fabio, 2023). Over the last few years, more and more,
attempts have also been made to observe also the toxic dynamic and
the role of destructive leadership in association with phenomena of work
invasion in personal life (Molino, Cortese & Ghislieri, 2019; Dolce et al.,
2020).
While in some cases positive and destructive leadership (Ghislieri, 2024)
are considered 'separate' phenomena, in the present study we focus on
their intertwining (Spagnoli et al., 2021) and on the differences in
turnover intention. For positive leadership, we considered the LMX
model; for destructive leadership, we focused on micromanagement.
The sample consists of 1287 employees of a local health authority (70%
women). LMX was surveyed through 5 items (alpha .93);
micromanagement through 4 items (alpha .73); turnover intention (TI)
through 3 items (alpha .84).
The data analysis, performed with SPSS, involved cluster analysis and
analysis of variance.
The cluster analysis made it possible to observe the intertwining of LMX
and micromanagement well, revealing subgroups characterised by
different leadership experiences. The highest TI is observed in the group
with high micromanagement and low LMX (19% of the sample); this is
followed by the 'neglected' group (low LMX and low micromanagement;
27% of the sample); the group with high LMX and high
micromanagement (27% of the sample) has a medium-low TI; finally, the
lowest TI is observed in the group with high LMX and low
micromanagement (27% of the sample).
This study highlights how people can experience different intertwining of
positive and destructive leadership in the same organisation: these two
aspects sometimes coexist, sometimes both are absent. The differences
observed with respect to TI suggest the importance of jointly studying
these two dimensions in order to reduce the risk of turnover, through the
promotion of a sustainable working environment.
4.