Leaders’ Psychopathic Traits in the Dynamic Context of Tourism Ventures: The Impact of Boldness on Managers’ Unethical Leadership and Unethical Employees’ Behavior Toward Customers

Given the increased demand for entrepreneurial success, it is important for businesses to comprehend how they can retain a base of loyal customers through their employees’ compliant behavior. Although psychopathy among leaders and managers in various corporate and financial contexts has been identified as a potent underlying factor affecting employee attitudes and team functioning and ultimately organizational performance, empirical research has lagged behind. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the association between managers’ psychopathic traits (boldness) and service behavioral intentions of hotel employees. Empirical data were collected from 179 managers of the Greek hotel sector. A structural equation model analysis was followed. The results provide empirical evidence for all suggested hypothesized associations. In particular, the findings display that managers’ boldness predicted unethical leadership, which in turn positively associated with unethical employees’ behavior toward customers. The current work provides practical contributions for professionals in the hotel setting, who come up with the challenge to enhance their customers’ loyalty through higher expectations of employee behavior.