From Destructive Leadership to Destructive Followership: A Conceptual Model

The literature on destructive leadership is relatively early, and the research and theory development addressing destructive leadership is underdeveloped. This article is an attempt to develop a conceptual model for destructive leadership. By integrating the trait theory of leadership, the paper attempts to explain that personal ideology and traits of the leader act as an antecedent to destructive leadership. The paper further proposes that the followers’ personality traits act as a moderator of the influence of destructive leadership. In extreme cases, destructive leadership can invite destructive followership. Finally, a theoretical framework is proposed integrating the destructive leadership literature followed by discussion and limitation of the study.