The Antecedents to, and Outcomes of, Workplace Leader Arrogance

Legislation enacted in the past two decades has been designed to address unacceptable behavior at work to protect people from harm. Yet little attention has been given to a specific behavior that contributes to the detrimental treatment of people at work that can seriously impact both individuals and organizations. That behavior is arrogance, both workplace and workplace leader arrogance. This study conducts a systematic literature review into how workplace and workplace leader arrogance is understood and defined in the literature, and what the antecedents to, and outcomes from it, are. Our purpose is to examine and clarify research into this behavior in the workplace, with the intention that potential gaps in the literature be identified to create opportunities for future interventions and research. Arrogance, including workplace and workplace leader arrogance, is generally defined in terms of an individual’s misplaced sense of superiority manifested in disparaging behaviors targeting others. The systematic literature review identified that from 2000-2021, thirty-seven scholarly papers were published addressing arrogance, workplace arrogance and workplace leader arrogance. Of these, fourteen papers investigated workplace and workplace leader arrogance, seven being empirical studies and seven non-empirical. Analysis revealed the common antecedent was self-esteem and variables reflecting organizational culture were the most common outcomes studied over the past two decades. Our findings inform the development of a new model identifying the antecedents and outcomes to workplace arrogance, which to date is not found in the literature.