The Relationship Between Exploitative Leadership and Counterproductive Work Behavior: The Moderated Mediation Effect of Power Distance

Counterproductive work behavior significantly increase a firm’s operating costs and resource wastage, thus seriously impairing organizational performance. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the reasons why employees engage in counterproductive work behavior. This study uses Affective Event Theory (AET) as a theoretical framework to reveal how exploitative leadership further influences employees’ behavioral choices by affecting their emotions. Specifically, exploitative leadership influences employees’ behavioral decisions by triggering their anger; employee anger plays a key mediating role between exploitative leadership and counterproductive work behavior, a finding that provides deeper theoretical support for the central role of emotions in organizational behavior. In addition, this study examines the moderating role of power distance. While traditional studies have focused on the direct effects of leadership behavior on employee outcomes, this study further reveals how power distance affects employees’ emotional intensity and behavioral response patterns, thereby providing a more comprehensive understanding of employees’ emotional and behavioral performance in the face of exploitative leadership. Data analysis of 294 Chinese SME employees revealed that exploitative leadership has a significant positive effect on employee anger and counterproductive work behavior; employee anger mediates the relationship between exploitative leadership and counterproductive work behavior, while power distance has a significant negative moderating effect in this relationship. Based on these findings, this study not only expands the scope of exploitative leadership research, but also provides new perspectives and ideas for understanding the role of power distance in leadership research. In addition, this study provides targeted practical recommendations for optimizing leadership styles, enhancing employee mental health support, and reducing counterproductive work behavior.