The Detection of Destructive Leadership: A Systematic Literature Review for Early Screening

Abstract

The early detection of destructive leadership is challenging. Scholars have pointed to the ineffective methods of early screening for destructive leadership as the specific problem leading to systematic patterns of abusive behaviors and their associated harmful effects after an individual’s leadership role occupancy. Discovering a clear set of attributes with markers was explored in the qualitative systematic literature review project. This project aimed to survey the literature on destructive leadership, identify all empirical evidence, extract attributes and the associated markers (also known as descriptors or indicators), in the generation of a useful list for early destructive leadership detection. A 21-article sample that focused on attributes with markers considered pivotal for the early detection of destructive leadership was used to ensure the selection of appropriate explicit articles that follows a transparent and reproducible search strategy.