A Phenomenological Analysis of the Effects of Leader Toxicity: Examining the Lived Experiences of U.S. Naval Officers Exposed to Toxic Leadership
A Phenomenological Analysis of the Effects of Leader Toxicity: Examining the Lived Experiences of U.S. Naval Officers Exposed to Toxic Leadership
Emmanuel Mamaril | 2023
Abstract
The purpose of this dissertation was to understand the perspectives of followers/subordinates exposed and subjected to toxic leadership within the United States (U.S.) Navy. Specifically, this study centered on the lived experiences of U.S. Navy junior officers with leader toxicity and how they coped with such circumstances. The goals of this study were to add to the growing dark leadership literature with an emphasis on specifically contributing to the U.S. military toxic leadership literature from the U.S. Navy perspective. A phenomenological inquiry design was employed to capture the study participants’ perceptions and descriptions regarding their experiences with toxic leadership. To further investigate the study’s chosen phenomenon of understanding U.S. Navy junior officers’ experiences with toxic leadership and how they coped with the leader toxicity, an in-depth review of existing studies regarding dark leadership, toxic leadership, and subordinate coping strategies was conducted. The in-depth review of the available literature regarding these topics helped inform the generation of the study’s two research questions that consisted of the following: (a) What are the lived experiences of U.S. Navy junior officers with toxic leadership? (b) How do U.S. Navy junior officers cope with leaders and supervisors who exhibit actions, behaviors, and conduct associated with toxic leadership? In order to collect data to answer these two research questions, an open-ended format interview guide that contained 11 questions was applied during the interviews with the five study participants. Applying an iterative coding process to the collected data from the interviews yielded eight overall themes that provided insights in helping answer the study’s two research questions. Four of the themes described the lived experiences of the participants with toxic leadership as debilitating, negative, relentless, and resilience building. The other four themes explained how the participants coped with the leader toxicity through reframing, responding directly, avoidance, and seeking help. This study provided insights for U.S. Navy leaders to explore that may contribute to the emergence of toxic leadership and offered suggestions for subordinates and victims on how to manage challenges associated with toxic leadership.