Bad bosses and despotism at workplace: A systematic review of the despotic leadership literature

Abstract

Over the years, the concept of despotic leadership (DL) has emerged as a hot topic in academic and professional debates on leadership. To this end, this study aims to synthesize existing literature on despotic leadership in business management scholarship. We utilize a systematic literature review technique to systematically identify, select, and evaluate existing scholarly publications on despotic leadership to highlight emerging topics, theories, and the consequences of despotic leadership at the workplace. In addition, we also provide a set of specific research questions for advancements of DL in management and leadership research as well as to clarify its conceptual and operationalization ambiguities. The findings of this review are categorized as follows, i) theory and conceptualization of DL, ii) state-of-the-art research profiling, iii) key thematic areas, and iv) future agenda. The key implications of this review for theory and practice are discussed.

Keywords

• Despotic leadership
• Psychological outcomes
• Leader despotism
• Systematic literature review