Type of the article: Research Article
Abstract
Drawing on social exchange theory, this study aims to expand the literature on despotic leadership as a prominent indicator of organizational deviance using a moderate mediation framework. Data were collected from a two-wave study involving 185 randomly chosen full-time administrative staff members in October 2024, in six colleges at the University of Mosul. Hypotheses have been tested by hierarchical multiple regression analysis and an estimated confidence interval for the indirect effect using SPSS 21.0 and Mplus 6.0. The results indicated a positive effect between despotic leadership and between Psychological Contract Breach (PCB) (β = 0.23, p < 0.01), as well as a positive effect between PCB and organizational deviance (β = 0.17, p < 0.01). The results also demonstrated a mediating role for PCB, as its presence rendered the association between despotic leadership and organizational deviance non-significant (β = 0.04, p = n.s.). Furthermore, we demonstrated a moderating role for moral identity, as its interaction with PCB reduced the negative impact on organizational deviance (β -0.15, p < 0.01). The study recommends that organizations should focus on discouraging despotic leadership and addressing subordinates’ perceptions of PCB. Moreover, the results emphasize the importance of ethical identity and its beneficial influence on the reduction of the influence of despotic leadership on the deviance within the organization.
Acknowledgments
We would also wish to thank the University of Mosul and the colleges, which constituted study population in this work. Their support was significant to facilitate us conduct and complete the study.