Toxic leadership and spiritual capital: Japanese organizations in the USA and India

Purpose: The objective of this paper is to contextualize the recently developed process of toxic leadership (PTL) model to international business (IB) intercultural (IC) contexts. This is important because of the potential for cultural conflict to compromise organizational spiritual capital, a crucial driver for success defined by the bottom line and employee satisfaction. Thus, the paper addresses the gap that is imperative for practical societal reasons of realizing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). This is because the bottom line is an important driver for international partnerships, a crucial element of SDG 17 and inclusivity is a contributing element of SDG 8 that pertains to Decent Work.

Design/methodology/approach: A case study design was adopted to facilitate modification of existing theory. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in Japanese (IB/IC) contexts to understand the lived experience of Japanese business leaders and host country managers (followers) in the USA and India. A social constructivist thematic analysis was deployed to examine the data.

Findings: Our study illustrates the degree to which the PTL model ports to IB situations, with a refinement on the workarounds for resistance by host country employees. The findings suggest that policymakers seduced by IB business market opportunities also need to address the dark side of these activities by ensuring proactive measures, such as language training and cross-cultural awareness, to ensure decent work as perceived by the follower.

Originality: The PTL model is relatively new to leadership scholarship. The present paper is novel in extending it to IB’s intercultural contexts. Moreover, as an exemplar of its application, it challenges and adds nuance through adjustment and ambiguity to the generally positive assessment of Japanese leadership in the conventional leadership literature.

Research limitations/implications: This research discusses implications for the evolving zeitgeist of human-centrism in organizations. Although the adopted subjectivist interpretivism presents a concomitant limitation of generalization, the research nevertheless successfully raises flags against the hegemonic positive assessment of the UN SDGs.

Practical implications: Connections to international subsidiary leadership selection are offered. Additionally, the research raises the specter of breach in leader-follower trust compromising organizational spiritual capital.

Social implications: Our research shows that society should consider potential misalignments with human centricity when promoting international partnerships, such as in the name of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 17.