Identifying the Indicators and Outcomes of Exploitative Leadership in Government Organizations with FCM Approach

Considering the importance of the role of government organizations in society, it should be stated that if the leaders of these organizations do not have leadership competence and competence, they can have dangerous effects on the organization with any of their behaviors, such as leadership incompetence, corruption, vandalism, immoral behavior, and criminal behavior. Therefore, it can be said that it is necessary to pay attention to the managers' leadership style, specifically exploitative leadership in these organizations. So far, most studies have investigated positive and constructive leadership styles, but less attention has been paid to the exploitative leadership style. In fact, despite a high amount of research on destructive leadership and its different styles in the country, there is little about exploitative leadership style, indicating a theoretical and practical gap. As a result, this research seeks to identify and highlight the indicators of exploitative leadership and the unfortunate outcomes of this leadership style in government organizations.

Exploitative leadership falls under the umbrella of destructive leadership because these leaders show a variety of negative behaviors. Despite research on leader self-interest, there is limited understanding of leader exploitation. Exploitative leadership is defined as a destructive leadership style in which the leader (1) exhibits selfish behavior, (2) pressures employees, and (3) undermines their skills and expertise and creates barriers to their personal growth. Previous research has shown many unfavorable effects of exploitative leadership on employees, including reduced job satisfaction and emotional commitment, increased turnover intention, burnout, workplace deviance, and perceived imbalance in social exchange.

The current research is an applied study in terms of purpose, and regarding the method, it is an exploratory study. The expert team of the current research is the managers of the government organizations of Lorestan province along with the university professors, which was conducted using the purposeful sampling method and numbered 25 people. The tool for collecting information is an interview in the qualitative part and a questionnaire in the quantitative part. Qualitative data were analyzed using the opinions of 25 experts and up to the point of information saturation and theoretical adequacy. Qualitative data were analyzed with "Atlas T" software and content analysis method, and quantitative data were analyzed with the fuzzy cognitive mapping method.

The findings of the research show that the most influential indicators of exploitative leadership are extreme ambition, hubristic personality, self-centeredness, and self-interest. Also, the reduction of motivation and innovative performance of employees, job and emotional burnout, the emergence of a paranoid atmosphere, and the spread of organizational pessimism were identified as the most significant consequences of exploitative leadership.

The performance and actions of leaders do not always lead to the organization's success and progress. In some cases, adverse and unethical leadership styles, such as exploitative leadership, can be the cause of pushing employees and the organization toward decline. In general, exploitative leadership can have unfavorable effects on the performance of employees and, consequently, on the organization's performance. Therefore, the current research was conducted to identify indicators and consequences of exploitative leadership in government organizations.