Drawing upon social learning theory, emotion regulation theory, and job embeddedness theory, this study empirically investigates a framework examining the linear relationships among toxic leadership, bullying (work-related, person-related, and physical intimidating), workplace incivility, and turnover intentions. By employing a purposive (judgmental) sampling technique, data were gathered from 283 airline ground employees in Tehran, Iran. The results indicate a significant relationship between toxic leadership and all three forms of bullying. In turn, these forms of bullying are significantly associated with experienced workplace incivility. Furthermore, the findings confirm the strong correlation between turnover intentions and workplace incivility, suggesting that prior exposure to incivility increases employees’ likelihood of voluntarily leaving their positions. This study uniquely integrates social learning, emotion regulation, and job embeddedness theories to empirically examine how toxic leadership leads to multiple forms of bullying, workplace incivility, and turnover intentions. The findings shed light on the mechanisms linking leadership behavior to staff withdrawal behavior and offer both theoretical and practical implications for managing staff well-being in high-pressure airline settings.
Safavı et al. (Wed,) studied this question.