Neuroticism as an antecedent of abusive supervision and laissez-faire leadership in emergent leaders: The role of facets and agreeableness as a moderator

Abstract

Academic interest in the relationship between leaders' personality and subordinates’ perception of destructive leadership behavior is increasing. However, results so far have been weak, contradictory, and inconsistent to theory. Here, we examine if using facets of neuroticism, rather than the broader trait, can be more informative and increases the predictive power. Next, we explore the interplay between personality dimensions by examining if the relationship between the facet angry hostility in neuroticism and destructive leadership behavior is moderated by the trait agreeableness. Four hundred and twenty emergent leaders were examined in a military selection context, combining the leaders' self-rated neuroticism (T1) with subordinates' subsequent perception of abusive supervision and laissez-faire leadership in a field exercise two weeks later (T2). The results indicated that using facets instead of the broad factor of neuroticism improved the prediction of examined outcomes. Only some of the facets of neuroticism were related to perceived leader behavior, with specific facets being identified for abusive supervision and laissez-faire leadership, respectively. Further, the relationship between angry hostility and both leadership styles was moderated by agreeableness.