DESPOTIC LEADERSHIP AND JOB SATISFACTION: EXPLORING THE ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS

Abstract

In the business environment, leadership plays a crucial and pivotal role. Following the Conservation of Resources Theory, the focus of this study was to examine the impact of despotic leadership on employee job satisfaction in the context of Pakistan. This research also analyzes the moderating role of psychological distress between despotic leadership and job satisfaction.  Based on the purposive sampling technique, multi-source data was collected from 309 employees working in various service sector organizations. SEM for the measurement model and Hayes process to test the moderation. The findings validated that employee job satisfaction is negatively associated with leadership. Further, the moderating role of psychological distress in a link between despotic leadership and job satisfaction was also confirmed. The implications of these findings for service organizations are significant, as they suggest that psychological distress when paired with despotic leadership exacerbated the level of job satisfaction. We provide implications for theory and organizations.