The Role of Destructive Leadership in Burnout Mediated by Organizational Justice and Procrastination

Service and educational organizations as the basis and foundation of cultural, social, economic, and political developments of any society are considered as one of the important pillars of growth and development in all countries, while their employees are under constant pressure to satisfy stakeholders. The improvement of organizational productivity is often faced with stress and other difficult conditions that affect employees’ well-being. One of the major issues that is usually seen as a reaction to job and organizational pressures among employees is the phenomenon of burnout. Considering the role of teacher burnout in reducing the productivity and effectiveness of schools, it is necessary to be aware of this phenomenon and identify its areas of occurrence, as well as its consequences in schools, so as to prevent them. The teacher burnout depends on several factors. The quality of management and leadership in schools is one of the most prominent issues. Not all school leaders are necessarily effective and have the right qualities. This is where the dark edge of leadership, that is destructive leadership, comes into play as its hidden, rigid, and negative dimension. Another factor affecting teacher burnout is procrastination. According to Simpson and Pichel (2009), procrastination is an important factor influencing the teacher burnout. Perceived injustice is another factor that causes teacher burnout. Considering the importance of burnout among teachers, especially elementary teachers and lack of indepth research in this area, an attempt was made in this study to identify the factors affecting teacher burnout and investigate how it happens.

The present research was based on a descriptive-correlation method with an applied purpose. The statistical population of this study included all the primary school teachers in District 3 of Shiraz in 2000. A sample of 322 people was determined based on Morgan’s table by using a random sampling method. Standard questionnaires were utilized to collect the required data. The destructive leadership questionnaire of Lou et al. (2012) with 20 items and 4 subscales (leadership corruption, over-strictness of subordinates, abuse of subordinates, and lack of professional ethics), organizational justice questionnaire of Niehoff & Morman (1993) with 20 items and 3 subscales (distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactive justice), procrastination questionnaire of Saffarinia and Amirkhani Razligi (1390) with 25 items and 3 subscales (inefficiency, anxiety, and disgust with homework), and Maslach burnout questionnaire (1981) with 22 items and 3 subscales (emotional fatigue, depersonalization, and lack of personal success) were employed in the 5-, 5-, 5-, and 7-point Likert scales, respectively.

The aim of this research was to investigate the role of destructive leadership in burnout mediated by organizational justice and procrastination. The results showed that the variable of destructive leadership had a direct, positive, and significant relationship with burnout and negligence of teachers and a direct, negative, and significant relationship with organizational justice at the level of 0.05; organizational justice had a direct, negative, and significant relationship with burnout and negligence of teachers at the level of 0.05; procrastination had a direct, positive, and significant relationship with teacher burnout at the level of 0.05; due to organizational justice and procrastination, destructive leadership had an indirect and significant relationship with teacher burnout at the level of 0.05; and organizational justice had an indirect and significant relationship with teacher burnout due to negligence at the level of 0.05. In terms of implications, to reduce teacher burnout, it is suggested that education officials and school principals reduce the levels of negligence and burnout by being aware of the dark and hidden angles and unfortunate consequences of destructive leadership and observing justice among teachers.