Toxic Leadership and its Relation to Nurses' Absenteeism and Their Deviant Behaviors

Background: Toxic leadership is ineffective behavior that reflects leadership's
negative/dark side and can negatively affect not only the followers but also the whole
organization. Aim: The present study aimed to examine toxic leadership and its relation to
nurses' absenteeism and their deviant behaviors. Research Design: Descriptive correlational
design was utilized. Study Setting: the study was conducted in all inpatient's medical,
surgical departments, and critical care units at Benha University Hospital. The study sample
was A purposive sample of (250) nurses after conducting sample size from the setting
mentioned above. Data collection tools: Three tools were used to collect the data: Toxic
leadership scale, nurses' absenteeism questionnaire, and deviant workplace behaviors Scale.
Results: The findings of this study showed that slightly more than three-fifth of nurses
(61.8%) perceived a low level of toxic leadership. Also, the highest mean percent was related
to personal factor, the relationship between supervisors and nursing staff, and self-fulfillment
(70.6%&70.4& 69%) respectively as the most causes of nursing absenteeism. Besides, most
of studied nurses (83.6%) had negative work deviance behaviors. Conclusion: The study
concluded that there was a statistically significant positive correlation between perceived
toxic leadership, nursing absenteeism, and deviant workplace behaviors. Recommendation:
The study recommended establishing leadership training programs to provide health care
leaders and supervisors with the skills they need to build a collaborative and participatory
management organization, thus reducing nursing absenteeism and their deviant behaviors.