A Multilevel Study of Relationships between Leaders’ Dark Triad and Employee Burnout: Mediating Role of Perceived Dark Leadership

Purpose – The aim of this research was to determine whether there are relationships between leaders’ dark triad and employee burnout and whether employees’ perception of dark leadership mediates these relationships. Design/methodology/approach – For this purpose, surveys were conducted in the Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa, Samsun, Ordu, Antalya, Gaziantep, and Mugla provinces of Turkey in units of 12 different private security companies. The sample consisted of 116 leaders and 494 employees who reported to those leaders. Because the sample comprised two levels (i.e., individual and group levels), the data were analyzed through the hierarchical linear modeling technique. Findings – The findings indicated that there were significant relationships between perceived dark leadership and employee burnout, between leaders’ dark triad and perceived dark leadership, and between leaders’ dark triad and employee burnout. Additionally, perceived dark leadership mediated the relationships between leaders’ dark triad and employee burnout. Discussion – This research contributed to the theory by uncovering the mediating role of perceived dark leadership between dark personality traits of leaders and employee burnout. Additionally, significant relationships were discovered between research variables through multilevel analyses that resulted in more robust implications. Moreover, practitioners are able to improve managerial processes by paying attention to undesired consequences of dark leadership and leaders’ dark triad.

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