The mediating role of psychological well-being in the effect of healthcare professionals' toxic leadership perception on organizational silence

To date, a significant portion of research on leadership has focused on the beneficial effects of leadership on employees and businesses. In addition to its beneficial aspects, leadership also has harmful aspects, and toxic leaders, who represent this aspect, have extremely negative consequences on both businesses and employees. Employees are negatively affected by the behavior of harmful (toxic) leaders, and this situation indirectly has negative effects on the organization as well. It is known that not all employees are affected to the same degree by the negative effects that arise in the organization. The situation of not being affected to the same degree can be attributed to factors such as individual differences in employees' resilience, their own behavioral characteristics, psychological profiles, and work and life expectations. One of the individual differences is the variability in the level of employee voice. Employee voice is of great importance within organizations. Employee voice is necessary for companies to identify opportunities, proactively reduce risks, and increase employee engagement. However, harmful actions exhibited by leaders cause employees to speak up less and even become silent. If the company does not address this situation, silence permeates the organization and its harmful effects can escalate to higher levels. Psychological well-being primarily influences the effect of toxic behavior on employees. Employees with high psychological well-being demonstrate greater resilience in the face of challenges due to their psychological resilience, optimism, hope for the future, and self-efficacy. Therefore, this study examines the mediating role of psychological well-being in the effect of healthcare workers' perception of toxic leadership on organizational silence. The data related to the independent variable were collected using the "Toxic Leadership Scale," which was adapted into Turkish by Çelebi et al. (2015). The dependent variable of the study, organizational silence, was measured using the scale developed by Dyne et al. (2003) and adapted into Turkish by Taşkıran (2011). To assess the mediating effect, the "Psychological Well-Being" scale adapted into Turkish by Telef (2013) was used. The data analysis for the study was conducted using SPSS 26 software, and the reliability of the scales was tested through Cronbach's alpha (CA) coefficients (Nunnally, 1978). Examining the descriptive statistics of the scales used in the research model, it was observed that psychological well-being has a mediating effect on the relationship between toxic leadership and organizational silence, based on the survey conducted with 395 participants.