How abusive leadership could harm employee job engagement in hotel businesses? The roles of perceived organizational politics and presenteeism

Abstract

Purpose Despite the extensive literature on abusive leadership's detrimental effects, this paper delves into the complex interplay between abusive leadership and two recent related variables. More specifically, this paper sheds light on the impact of abusive leadership (AL) and employee job engagement (JE), as mediated by perceived organizational politics (POP) and presenteeism (PR).

Design/methodology/approach:  Study participants included 408 full-time employees working at five-star hotels in Egypt. The study evaluated the responses using the PLS-SEM technique and WarpPLS statistical software 7.0.

Findings: Results revealed that abusive leadership (AL) significantly decreases employee job engagement, while increases perceived organizational politics (POP) and presenteeism. In addition, employee JE is negatively affected by POP and presenteeism. Furthermore, the results confirm that POP and presenteeism significantly mediates the relationship between AL and employee JE.

Originality/value: This research fills a gap in understanding POP and PR's roles in Egyptian settings, enriches existing theories in AL, POP, PR, and JE, and offers practical implications for scholars and professionals, hence, providing a competitive edge.