The Relationship Between Exploitative Leadership on Contextual Performance and Silence Behavior: The Mediating Role of Organizational Frustration and Moderating Role of Stressor Appraisals

Grounded in the stressor-emotion model, this study reports an empirical examination of the relationships between exploitative leadership on employees’ cognition and work behavior, incorporating the mediating role of organizational frustration and the moderating effect of stressor appraisals. Since ambiguity surrounds these processes, this perspective offers clarity on the negative chain reactions triggered by supervisors’ exploitative leadership of employees. Data were collected from 298 full-time front-line employees and their direct supervisors. The findings reveal: (1) exploitative leadership positively affects employees’ organizational frustration; (2) organizational frustration mediates the relationship between exploitative leadership and both contextual performance and silence behavior; (3) hindrance stressors amplify the positive relationship between exploitative leadership and organizational frustration; and (4) challenge stressors mitigate the positive relationship between exploitative leadership and organizational frustration. These findings extend the understanding of exploitative leadership by distinguishing employees’ active and passive behavioral responses and revealing organizational frustration as an important mediating process. By including stressor appraisals as a boundary condition, we clarify when exploitative leadership worsens or attenuates frustration and associating employee behaviors