Marketing

Control (management)

Theory of planned behavior

Statistics

Social psychology

Conservation of resources theory

Public relations

Tourism

Talent management

Hospitality industry

Economics

Computer science

Structural equation modeling

Psychological contract

Business

Job satisfaction

Psychology

Mathematics

Management

Hospitality

Political science

Value (mathematics)

Machine learning

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

Purpose Building on conservation of resources theory and unfolding theory of turnover, this paper aims to propose a model of the effects of despotic leadership on employees’ job satisfaction and turnover intention in the hospitality industry. In this model, the authors theorize psychological distress to play an intervening role among the aforesaid linkages. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected in three-waves from 212 employees working in Palestinian restaurants. A covariance-based matrix in structural equation modeling was used to verify the proposed linkages in the study. A marker variable was used to control the common method bias. Findings The results showed that despotic leadership has a direct negative effect on job satisfaction and a positive indirect effect on turnover intentions. Besides, psychological distress showed to play significant mediating effects among the aforementioned relationships. Practical implications This study gives insights to the hospitality industry on how despotic leadership can be destructive and lead to negative consequences. Originality/value This study is unique, as it is the first study conducted on despotic leadership in a hospitality setting. The study responded to scholarly calls made to enrich the literature pertaining to despotic leadership and its outcomes.

Fire in the belly: the impact of despotic leadership on employees work-related outcomes in the hospitality setting