Toxic leadership, organizational indifference, and employee silence: Direct and indirect relations

The fundamental objectives of organizations, such as productivity and employee satisfaction, may be jeopardized by issues like toxic leadership, organizational indifference, and employee silence. These problems negatively affect organizational performance by leading employees to disengage from the organization, refrain from expressing their thoughts, and experience a loss of motivation. In particular, toxic leadership significantly weakens employees' motivation and commitment to the organization, causing them to lose interest in their work and hesitate to voice their concerns. Organizational indifference refers to a lack of attention toward internal organizational matters, while employee silence is associated with the avoidance of sharing ideas and concerns. Although these three concepts have the potential to significantly affect productivity and employee satisfaction within organizations, studies that address them collectively remain limited in the literature. Notably, there is a striking shortage of national-level research focusing specifically on organizational indifference. In this context, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationships among toxic leadership, organizational indifference, and employee silence, and to reveal the mediating role of organizational indifference in this relationship. The study was conducted with administrative staff working at a public university located in the Central Black Sea Region of Turkey. Data were collected via Google Forms in April 2024, yielding a sample of 351 participants. Designed using a quantitative research method and correlational survey model, the study employed IBM SPSS Amos, IBM SPSS, and Process Macro software for data analysis. The analyses focused on both direct and indirect relationships. The findings showed that toxic leadership contributes positively to the explanation of organizational indifference, and that organizational indifference likewise contributes positively to the explanation of employee silence. Finally, it was determined that organizational indifference plays a mediating role in the relationship between toxic leadership and employee silence. Additionally, the Turkish adaptation of the Employee Silence Scale, which was carried out within the scope of this study, represents one of its significant methodological contributions. The results indicate that reducing toxic leadership practices in the workplace may help mitigate both organizational indifference and employee silence. The study offers several recommendations that may serve as guidance for practitioners in the field as well as for future research.