Is My Boss Gaslighting Me? Uncovering the Nomological Network of Gaslighting In Leader-Employee Relationships

Abstract

The term gaslighting is widely used today to describe deliberate attempts to undermine a person’s sense of reality. Although predominantly studied in romantic relationships, research suggests that gaslighting can occur in any context where a power imbalance exists. In this research, we provide a theoretical framework for understanding gaslighting in the workplace, highlighting its unique position within the workplace mistreatment literature. Next, focusing on the leader-employee dyad, we differentiate between the gaslighting tactics leaders employ (leader gaslighting) and target employees’ psychological experience of being gaslit (employee-experienced gaslighting). We also examine whether the consequences of leader gaslighting are conditional on the (in)formal power imbalance between the employee and leader. To test our conceptual model, we first develop separate measures of leader gaslighting tactics and employee-experienced gaslighting and accumulate construct validity evidence across multiple studies (Studies 1a-c, 3). Notably, we find consistent evidence of a bi-factor structure with a “global” destructive leadership factor, and “specific” leader gaslighting, abusive supervision, and social undermining factors. In Study 2, we show that leader gaslighting is positively associated with employee-experienced gaslighting, which in turn adversely impacts self-focused (organizational-based self-esteem and turnover intentions), performance-focused (task performance and workplace deviance), and leader-focused (impression management and affective commitment) outcomes. In Study 4, we show that the direct and indirect negative effects of leader gaslighting are weaker for employees who have relatively greater (versus less) informal (referent and expert) power than their leaders. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications of gaslighting in organizations.