Evaluation of Public Hospital Healthcare Workers' Views on Toxic Leadership
12th International Conference on Lifelong Education and Leadership for All-ICLEL 2026, Olomouc, Czech Republic, 7 - 09 July 2026, vol.12, pp.125, (Summary Text)
- Publication Type: Conference Paper / Summary Text
- Volume: 12
- City: Olomouc
- Country: Czech Republic
- Page Numbers: pp.125
- Open Archive Collection: AVESIS Open Access Collection
- Akdeniz University Affiliated: Yes
Abstract
This research aimed to evaluate the views of healthcare professionals working in public hospitals regarding toxic leadership, and to determine whether these views differ according to certain demographic variables. The research was conducted using a descriptive survey model from quantitative research methods, in a sample group (176) representing the study population of healthcare workers working at Antalya Kemer State Hospital, and the sample size was reached at 91.7%. Research data were collected by applying structured face-to-face questionnaires to participants in August, September, and October 2024. In this research, the Toxic Leadership Scale developed by Schmidt (2008) was used. Descriptive statistics, t-test, and ANOVA tests were applied in the analysis of the data.
The findings revealed that the average overall score for toxic leadership among healthcare professionals was 2.874, with the highest average score found in the "Abusive Management" subdimension (𝑥̄ = 3.015), while the "Narcissism" subdimension (𝑥̄ = 2.765) had relatively lower average values.The perceptions of toxic leadership among the research group differed significantly according to occupation type (F(4-171)=2.532; p=0.042; η²=0.056). When the overall toxic leadership scores were examined, the highest mean was found in the medical secretary group (X̄ = 3.198), and the lowest mean was found in the midwife-nurse group (X̄ = 2.623). Gender showed a significant difference only in the “Abusive Management” dimension [t(174) = 2.688, p = 0.008, Cohen’s d = 0.447]. The average score of male participants in this dimension was 3.327 (Ss = 1.049), while the average score of female participants was 2.888 (Ss = 0.954). When evaluated in terms of other sub-dimensions, it is seen that there is no statistically significant difference according to gender. The perceptions of toxic leadership among healthcare professionals in the research group did not show significant differences according to age, professional seniority, department worked in, length of service in the institution, or whether they received leadership training (p > .05).
The research results show that healthcare professionals' perceptions of toxic leadership are at a moderate level at work are relatively good. In line with these findings, it is recommended that training aimed at improving leadership qualities, ethical leadership practices, and regular feedback mechanisms be strengthened in healthcare institutions.