Effect of dark side leadership and leader-member exchange on corporate performance: Mediating role of employee engagement

Abstract

Optimized corporate performance assumes that financial and non-financial performance can be achieved through effective collaboration between leaders and employees. This study analyzes the mediation of employee engagement on the connection between dark side leadership and leader-member exchange on corporate performance in Indonesia. This study used a mixed methods approach by distributing questionnaires to 1,013 respondents consisting of supervisors and managers and conducting intensive interviews with 20 respondents with more than 25 years of work experience to strengthen the perception of answers. The paper uses multiple linear regression analysis. The regression results show that dark side leadership (β = –0.228, ρ = 0.000) and leader-member exchange (β = 0.424, ρ = 0.000) affect employee engagement. Next, leader-member exchange (β = 0.176, ρ = 0.008) and employee engagement (β = 0.391, ρ = 0.000) affect corporate performance, while dark side leadership has no effect (β = 0.020, ρ = 0.400). Finally, employee engagement mediates the effect of dark side leadership and leader-member exchange on corporate performance. This finding indicates that the comfort level of employees at work will decrease if a leader demonstrates a dark side behavior that can affect his/her performance, which later impacts corporate performance. Furthermore, the novelty contribution of dark side leadership measurements on the cultural and emotional dimensions can impact employee turnover intention. This study offers implications for practitioners to conduct selective assessments at the beginning of leader recruitment and control internal leader assessments to create effective organizational behavior.