Role of Psychological Safety and Religiosity between Negative leadership (Machiavellianism) and Employee Silence (Defensive): A study among Teachers of Private Higher Education Institutes of Pakistan

Abstract

Employees’ behavior at workplace depends on leader’s behavior. The negative reciprocal relationship between leader and employee produces negative consequences for organization like employee silence. The leadership literature investigates the interaction of psychological and religious characteristics in understanding leader toxic behavior and employee silence, especially from a cross-cultural and organizational perspective. Thus, the study aims to substantiate the mediation-moderation effect of psychological safety and Religiosity between a leader’s Machiavellianism Behavior and Employee Silence. The 643 self-administered questionnaire was distributed to teachers of thirty-one private universities operating in Pakistan through convenience sampling technique. The findings show that LMB positively impacted E.S. and psychological safety, and when psychological safety is controlled, it increases employee silence. Moreover, when high Religiosity is present, employee silence reduces even LMB is higher. The findings reveal that LMB is present in private higher education institutes that require immediate attention, whereas psychological training is necessary for faculty in higher education institutes in Pakistan.  

Keywords: Leader's Machiavellianism Behavior (LMB), employee silence (E.S.), Psychological Safety(PS), Religiosity