IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jadmsc/v15y2025i5p171-d1647143.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Toxic Leadership and Job Satisfaction in the Middle Eastern Education Sector: The Influence of Organizational Culture and Trust

Author

Listed:
  • Fida Ragheb Hassanein

    (School of Business, Lebanese International University, Beirut 146404, Lebanon)

  • Samaneh Mohammadi

    (Department of Business Administration, Cyprus International University, Nicosia 99258, Northern Cyprus, Turkey)

  • Pouya Zargar

    (Department of Business Administration, ARUCAD Research Centre, Arkin University of Creative Arts and Design, Mersin 10, Northern Cyprus, Turkey)

Abstract

Toxic leadership has profound implications for employees’ psychological wellbeing, particularly in academia, as a supportive workplace is crucial for intellectual prosperity and growth. In various parts of the Middle East, toxic leadership has been a major element in suppressing academic freedom, low levels of creativity, and innovation backed with favoritism, nepotism, and lack of support. This study examines the detrimental effects of toxic leaders on academic staff’s job satisfaction among academic staff in Middle Eastern universities. Grounded in the social learning theory, leader–member exchange theory, and conservation of resources theory, this research examines the mediating effect of organizational culture and trust in leaders. A quantitative approach using partial least squares—structural equation modeling with Smart-PLS software Version 3—was deployed on survey data from 236 faculty members and academic administrators across 11 universities in the region. The results show that toxic leadership significantly reduces job satisfaction, which is better explained by key mediating elements of organizational culture and trust in leaders. The findings highlight the need for fostering a culture of trust, leadership development, and transparent strategies to enhance the academic workplace for the staff and improve the dynamic and performance of the educational environment in the region. This study provides practical recommendations for mitigating toxic leadership in the education sector of the Middle East through empirically validating its detrimental effects on the psychological wellbeing of academic staff, which is a major element that barriers significant academic achievements.

Suggested Citation

  • Fida Ragheb Hassanein & Samaneh Mohammadi & Pouya Zargar, 2025. "Toxic Leadership and Job Satisfaction in the Middle Eastern Education Sector: The Influence of Organizational Culture and Trust," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:15:y:2025:i:5:p:171-:d:1647143
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/15/5/171/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/15/5/171/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas C. Powell, 2001. "Competitive advantage: logical and philosophical considerations," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(9), pages 875-888, September.
    2. Christopher Bajada & Mikhail Shashnov, 2019. "The effects of economic development and the evolution of social institutions on the level of corruption: comparing the Asia-Pacific with other regional blocs," Asia Pacific Business Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 470-500, August.
    3. Christian N. Thoroughgood & Katina B. Sawyer & Art Padilla & Laura Lunsford, 2018. "Destructive Leadership: A Critique of Leader-Centric Perspectives and Toward a More Holistic Definition," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 627-649, September.
    4. Victoria Bellou & Maria Dimou, 2022. "The Impact of Destructive Leadership on Public Servants’ Performance: The Mediating Role of Leader-member Exchange, Perceived Organizational Support and Job Satisfaction," International Journal of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(9), pages 697-707, July.
    5. Samma Faiz Rasool & Rashid Maqbool & Madeeha Samma & Yan Zhao & Amna Anjum, 2019. "Positioning Depression as a Critical Factor in Creating a Toxic Workplace Environment for Diminishing Worker Productivity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-18, May.
    6. Mattia Casula & Nandhini Rangarajan & Patricia Shields, 2021. "The potential of working hypotheses for deductive exploratory research," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 55(5), pages 1703-1725, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tironi, Martín & Rivera Lisboa, Diego Ignacio, 2023. "Artificial intelligence in the new forms of environmental governance in the Chilean State: Towards an eco-algorithmic governance," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    2. Richard J. Arend & Moren Lévesque, 2010. "Is the Resource-Based View a Practical Organizational Theory?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(4), pages 913-930, August.
    3. Isabel Carmona-Cobo & Eva Garrosa & Esther Lopez-Zafra, 2021. "Workers’ Observation of Uncivil Leadership: Is Tolerance for Workplace Incivility a Gendered Issue?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-14, May.
    4. Bernard C. Beaudreau, 2016. "Competitive and Comparative Advantage: Towards a Unified Theory of International Trade," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 1-18, March.
    5. Isidore Komla Zotoo & Guifeng Liu & Zhangping Lu & Frank Kofi Essien & Wencheng Su, 2023. "The Impact of Key Stakeholders and the Computer Skills of Librarians on Research Data Management Support Services (Id so-21-1893.r2)," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, September.
    6. Sora Lee & Jaewon Yoo, 2021. "Determinants of a Firm’s Sustainable Competitive Advantages: Focused on Korean Small Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, January.
    7. Yonghong Liu & Chen Zhao & Zhiyong Yang & Zhonghua Gao, 2025. "The Effect of Abusive Supervision on Employee Job Performance: The Moderating Role of Employment Contract Type," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 196(1), pages 209-221, January.
    8. John Mugambwa Serumaga-Zake & John Andrew van der Poll, 2021. "Addressing the Impact of Fourth Industrial Revolution on South African Manufacturing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-31, October.
    9. Moshood Olatunde Oladapo & Moheeb Abualqumboz & Lawrence M. Ngoe & Abiodun Kolawole Oyetunji & Chiemela Victor Amaechi & Rasheed Bello & Ebube Charles Amaechi, 2023. "Sustainable Technology Adoption as a Source of Competitive Advantage for Pineapple Production in Ejigbo, Nigeria," Economies, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-29, August.
    10. David. A. L. Coldwell, 2019. "Negative Influences of the 4th Industrial Revolution on the Workplace: Towards a Theoretical Model of Entropic Citizen Behavior in Toxic Organizations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-13, July.
    11. Barneto, Pascal & Ouvrard, Stéphane, 2015. "Is the firm's business model related to segment reporting?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 122-137.
    12. Seo Gang-Hoon, 2020. "Competitive Advantages of International Airline Alliances: A Critical Review," HOLISTICA – Journal of Business and Public Administration, Sciendo, vol. 11(1), pages 139-145, April.
    13. Eneriko Mbofani, 2024. "Political Tolerance Challenges and Strategies in Multiparty Societies’ in Sadc: The Case of Zimbabwe (2017-2023)," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(10), pages 1368-1393, October.
    14. Marc Orlitzky, 2011. "Institutionalized dualism: statistical significance testing as myth and ceremony," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 47-77, September.
    15. Xiang Zhou & Samma Faiz Rasool & Jing Yang & Muhammad Zaheer Asghar, 2021. "Exploring the Relationship between Despotic Leadership and Job Satisfaction: The Role of Self Efficacy and Leader–Member Exchange," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-20, May.
    16. Dongjun Kim & Jinsung Yun & Kijung Kim & Seungil Lee, 2021. "A Comparative Study of the Robustness and Resilience of Retail Areas in Seoul, Korea before and after the COVID-19 Outbreak, Using Big Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-21, March.
    17. Ferreira, João J.M. & Fernandes, Cristina I. & Ferreira, Fernando A.F., 2022. "What makes organizations unique? Looking inside the box," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 664-674.
    18. Ömer Akgün Tekin & Engin Üngüren & Ayşegül Doğrucan & Sevcan Yıldız, 2023. "How Does Organizational Toxicity Affect Depression? A Moderated Mediation Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-17, February.
    19. Federico Cosenz & Guido Noto, 2016. "Applying System Dynamics Modelling to Strategic Management: A Literature Review," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(6), pages 703-741, November.
    20. Jose L. Barbero & Alicia Ramos & Catherine Chiang, 2017. "Restructuring in dynamic environments: a dynamic capabilities perspective," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 26(4), pages 593-615.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:15:y:2025:i:5:p:171-:d:1647143. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.