Fear, Power, and Abuse: Why Some Leaders Lash Out
This post was written collaboratively by Barbara Wisse and Diana Rus
Power delivers significant benefits to leaders—materially, socially, and psychologically. Control over resources, autonomy, status, and personal fulfillment are all attractive perks, making power a highly valued and fiercely defended asset. Yet, power is also inherently unstable, often shifting due to internal politics, temporal dynamics, or external societal pressures. Leaders who feel threatened in their power may experience fear, motivating them to adopt protective or aggressive strategies aimed at securing their positions. For instance, take former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. In December 2024, facing declining approval ratings and personal scandals, Yoon declared martial law, citing the need to eliminate “shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces”. This move was widely perceived as an attempt to suppress opposition and consolidate power amid growing challenges to his leadership. Yoon’s actions were seen as an authoritarian overreach aimed at diverting attention from corruption investigations involving him and his wife, thus reflecting his fear-driven response to a potential loss of power.
Fear of power loss
Clearly, fear of power loss can have substantive consequences; not only in the political arena, but also in organizations. Recently, we published a paper (Rus et al., in press) that focuses on how fear of losing power interacts with leader personality traits to predict abusive leadership behaviors. Abusive supervision involves consistent hostile behaviors from leaders toward subordinates, such as verbal intimidation, ridicule, and undermining. Unsurprisingly, this abusive behavior significantly damages employee morale, trust, engagement, and organizational effectiveness. We conducted two studies, one experiment and one survey with hundreds of business leaders and their teams, and these yielded some noteworthy findings and implications.
Fear of power loss can have substantive consequences; not only in the political arena, but also in organizations.
First, we found evidence for a relationship between leader fear of power loss and abusive supervision. This was exactly what we expected to see. To predict this relationship, we relied on Conservation of Resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll et al., 2018). This theory posits that people facing threats to valuable resources—like power—are driven to protect these assets through aggressive, sometimes even irrational actions. Indeed, power can serve as a critical resource that leaders strive to protect and maintain. Our results also match the frustration-aggression hypothesis (Berkowitz, 1989), which suggests that people become aggressive when something stops them from getting what they want. In other words, when someone feels blocked from reaching an important goal (like keeping their power), they are more likely to respond with anger or aggression.
Second, both studies consistently showed that leaders who fear losing their power are significantly more likely to engage in abusive supervision when they score relatively high on so-called Machiavellianism — a manipulative and cynical personality trait, characterizing people who are willing to deceive and exploit others for personal gain (Dahling et al., 2009). Such leaders tend to prioritize power and control, often showing little empathy or guilt in the pursuit of their objectives. We proposed that, since such leaders place an exaggerated emphasis on power, status, and control, they are particularly sensitive to any perceived threats to their position. This heightened sensitivity often triggers aggressive actions aimed at defending their authority. Furthermore, their emotional detachment and lack of empathy reduce the ethical barriers that might otherwise restrain abusive behavior. As a result, Machiavellian leaders are more likely to rationalize their hostile actions as necessary strategies to preserve their dominance.
Implications
These findings have important practical implications for organizations. Leaders who are anxious about losing power and exhibit Machiavellian traits can cause real damage! To tackle these risks, organizations can take practical steps: (1) Clearly communicate the criteria for decisions like promotions and demotions, because transparency helps reduce uncertainty and anxiety among leaders; (2) Consider Machiavellian tendencies when selecting or promoting leaders. While it’s great to recognize positive leadership qualities (which is usually the focus in selection processes), spotting and avoiding those with darker traits is equally important; (3) Use performance management systems, transparency protocols, and oversight departments to hold leaders accountable, because clear consequences for unethical behaviors can discourage abusive practices.
Machiavellian leaders are more likely to rationalize their hostile actions as necessary strategies to preserve their dominance.
In sum, fear of losing power can push leaders—whether in politics or business—to lash out. Just as former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol reacted to threats against his position with aggressive measures, leaders within organizations may lash out at their teams when they feel their authority is under siege. Our research highlights that this is especially true for leaders with Machiavellian traits, who are more likely to resort to abusive supervision to protect their position. By understanding these dynamics and putting systems in place—like promoting transparency, selecting the right people for leadership positions, and holding leaders accountable—organizations can help prevent such toxic behaviors and create healthier, more supportive workplaces.
Image credit: image generated by the authors using ChatGPT/Dall-E.
References
Berkowitz, L. (1989). Frustration-aggression hypothesis: Examination and reformulation. Psychological Bulletin, 106(1), 59–73. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.106.1.59
Dahling, J. J., Whitaker, B. G., & Levy, P. E. (2009). The development and validation of a new Machiavellianism Scale. Journal of Management, 35(2), 219–257. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206308318618
Hobfoll, S. E., Halbesleben, J., Neveu, J-P., & Westman, M. (2018). Conservation of resources in the organizational context: The reality of resources and their consequences. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 5, 103–128. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032117-104640
Rus, D.C., Sleebos, E. & Wisse, B. (in press). Fear is the Path to the Dark Side: The interplay of leader fear of power loss and leader Machiavellianism on abusive supervision. Journal of Managerial Psychology.
Barbara Wisse is professor of Organizational Behavior and Leadership processes at the University of Groningen and currently also Programme Director of the Psychology Department. Her work focuses explicitly on (bright and dark sides of) power and leadership processes and often includes topics such as ethics and morality, emotions, Dark Triad personality traits and the psychological effects of change.
For more information on Barbara’s research, visit her web page here.
