Abuse of Authority as an Inherited Culture in the Workplace: Is It the Fault of the Leader or the Subordinate?

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore some of the potential factors and motivations that cause leaders to abuse their authority. It aims to help readers think critically about employees’ rights, the concept of inherited culture, and employees’ scope of work in relation to abuse of authority. There is a dearth of research addressing abuse of power in organizations, and ignorance of this problem and lack of attention allow leaders to commit wrongful behaviors. Therefore, a quantitative study was conducted to examine Saudi Arabian employees’ experiences with their leaders’ exercise of authority. A total of 135 Saudi Arabian employees participated in an online survey, and the survey results indicated that participants were not completely satisfied with their leaders’ exercise of authority. The participants revealed that they are required to perform tasks or services outside the scope of their work. Furthermore, the participants indicated that they are evaluated on tasks that are not written in their job descriptions, which negatively affects their performance appraisal. Importantly, the study findings showed that abuse of authority is an inherited culture in most employees’ organizations, suggesting that such illegitimate behavior is common in a workplace environment. Both leaders and subordinates play an important role in preventing leaders from committing any kind of violations that harm the culture of the organization.