Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies

Norman, Steven M.; Baldo, Carlos; Chen-McCain, Shiang-Lih; Larson, Milan

2025 Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies

doi: 10.1177/15480518241312955

A very important challenge facing leaders and followers alike is how to navigate the virtual workplace where much of our communication and interactions occur through the use of technology. This field experiment examined whether a leader's choice of communication media given the situational uncertainty (termed uncertainty-media fit here to parallel related research) impacted the amount and type of trust (cognitive versus affective) that developed between leaders and followers. Further, we tested whether the leader's perceived level of psychological capital (PsyCap) impacted the results obtained. To test our hypotheses, 326 participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions of high (low) media richness×high (low) situational uncertainty. Results of our study indicated that communication media choice, in and of itself, did not seem to impact results. However, the situational uncertainty present in our scenarios impacted subjects’ amount and type of trust in the leaders, lending credence to the argument that perhaps technology is, in fact, more based on how it is interpreted, rather than whether the leader uses media higher in richness to communicate more complex information. Further, subjects’ perception of the leader's psychological capital (PsyCap) moderated results obtained. In addition to limitations and suggestions for future research, we conclude with practical implications for leaders that may have an impact on the amount and type of trust that develops between leaders and followers in a virtual work environment.

Nie, Qi; Wang, Miaomiao

2025 Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies

doi: 10.1177/15480518241305683

Exploitative leadership is a form of destructive leadership behavior that has adverse effects on the overall organization. This study aimed to explore the mechanisms underlying the association between exploitative leadership and employees’ unethical behavior. Drawing on ego depletion theory, we proposed a theoretical model wherein exploitative leadership increases employees’ unethical behavior through ego depletion, with microbreaks acting as a contextual condition. Using a multi-wave diary study across ten consecutive workdays from 115 employees, we found that exploitative leadership was positively associated with employees’ unethical behavior and that ego depletion mediated this relationship. Moreover, microbreaks buffer the positive relationship between exploitative leadership and ego depletion as well as the indirect effect of exploitative leadership on employees’ unethical behavior through ego depletion. We discussed the theoretical and practical implications and proposed future research directions.