Machiavellian Leadership and Deviant Behavior of Employees: Explaining Mediating Role of Unethical Authoritarian Leadership and Organizational Cynicism

Background: Leadership has not always shown its nice face; rather, in some cases, it has exhibited the dark part such as the authoritarian leadership and Machiavellian leadership which could negatively affects the organization and its performance. Therefore, the purpose of current study is to explain the mediating role of authoritarian leadership and organizational cynicism in the relationship between Machiavellian leadership and employees’ deviant behavior. Methods: This research is descriptive–correlation study. The statistical population of the study consisted of the employees of one of the governmental organization of Shiraz, a total of 127 subjects were selected by random sampling as a statistical sample. The instruments for data collection were questionnaire. To analyze the collected data, vertical factor analysis and structural equation modeling and smart PLS software were used. Results: Based on the results of the study, it was found that Machiavellian leadership has a positive and significant relationship with authoritarian leadership, organizational cynicism, and deviant behavior. Results also show authoritarian leadership has a positive and significant relationship with organizational cynicism, but its relationship with deviant behavior is not confirmed. It was also shown that organizational cynicism has a positive and significant relationship with incidence of deviant behavior. Finally, the role of mediator of organizational cynicism in the relationship between Machiavellian leadership and deviant behavior was confirmed, and also the mediator role of the authoritarian leadership in the relationship between Machiavellian leadership and deviant behavior was rejected. Conclusion: In this research, it has been shown that in parallel with the increase of the Machiavellian level of leaders, the rate of authoritarian leadership, organizational cynicism and deviant behavior would also increase. Meanwhile, organizational cynicism, unlike the authoritarian leadership, would increases the intensity of the relationship between Machiavellian leadership and deviant behavior.