What happens at home does not stay at home: The role of family and romantic partner conflict in destructive leadership

Why leaders behave the way they do is of considerable importance. Our goal in this research was to understand how family-to-work conflict and romantic relationship conflict influence two different forms of destructive leadership, namely, abusive supervision and passive leadership. To do so, we invoke the conservation of resources theory. One hundred twenty-three leader–follower dyads participated. Leaders completed questionnaires on their own family-to-work conflict and romantic relationship conflict, depressive symptoms, and cognitive distraction. Their followers rated their abusive supervision and passive leadership. With the use of Hayes's PROCESS program, depressive symptoms mediated the effects of family-to-work conflict and romantic relationship conflict on abusive supervision, whereas cognitive distraction mediated the effects of family-to-work conflict on passive leadership. Implications and several directions for further research are offered