The impact of exploitative leadership on organizational members' job exhaustion and turnover intentions: The moderating role of self-efficacy

Recently, the rise in exploitative leadership within restaurant companies has led to increased job exhaustion and turnover intentions among organizational members. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between a leader's exploitative leadership and organizational members' job exhaustion and turnover intention, examining the mediating effects of job stress and psychological contract violation in the relationship between exploitative leadership, job exhaustion, and turnover intention. Additionally, the study sought to verify the moderated mediating effect of organizational members' self-efficacy on job stress and psychological contract violation. For this purpose, a survey was conducted among 364 employees who had experienced or observed exploitative leadership while working in restaurant companies, with the analysis conducted using structural equation modeling and process macro analysis techniques. The analysis revealed that the leader's exploitative leadership positively affects organizational members' job exhaustion and turnover intention. Specifically, all relationships with the variables of stress, psychological contract violation, and emotional damage were found to be significant. To examine the moderating effect, self-efficacy was shown to influence the intensity of stress and psychological contract violation. The significance of this study lies in its examination of the variables affecting organizational members' job exhaustion and turnover intentions and in comprehensively modeling the process through which exploitative leadership interacts with emotional damage via dual mediating paths. The study aims to inform managers and staff of restaurant companies about the negative impact and importance of addressing harmful leadership, such as exploitative leadership, emphasizing the need for genuine leadership that resonates with organizational members.