Impact of toxic leadership on the intention to leave: a research on permanent and contracted hospital employees

Purpose - This study aims to investigate the impact of toxic leadership, organizational justice and organizational silence on hospital employees' intention to leave their jobs. Design/methodology/approach - A questionnaire survey was conducted with permanent and contractual employees of a university teaching hospital, including nurses, medical assistants, health technicians and clerical staff. Structural equation modeling was used to develop and test the model. Findings - The findings reveal that toxic leadership is directly and negatively related to organizational justice, while all dimensions of organizational silence and the intention to leave are positively related. In this model, the coefficients of the relationships are found to be higher, almost doubling in permanent employees than in contracted employees, except for the relationship between toxic leadership and silence to protect the organization. This exception lies in the fact that permanent workers with long-term employment have been dealing with the managers for many years. Research limitations/implications - The model can be extended with counterproductive behavior, work performance and satisfaction measures and work stress and compared with different sectors using higher sample volumes. Originality/value - In the human-centered health-care industry, it is essential to know the way leadership behaviors guide health-care professionals. The negative leadership behaviors can negatively affect both employees' self-esteem and their attitudes toward patients and their relatives. The results of the present study are expected to contribute to the development of more effective manager selection and promotion policies by policy-makers as well as the determination of short- and long-term employment policies.