ABSTRACT
Leaders play a critical role in the dynamics of workplace bullying, as they can prevent or permit the mistreatment of employees through their leadership. This chapter drew on complexity leadership theory and examined the data collected from 695 employees of 73 startup companies in Japan. Analyses revealed that (1) most startup founders utilize different leadership styles—inspiration-driven transformational leadership in business development and laissez-faire leadership in organizational management; (2) those two leadership styles in two domains are uniquely associated each with the given company’s competitive culture, psychological safety climate, and workplace bullying; and (3) transformational leadership exercised in organizational management is associated with reduced levels of workplace bullying, while laissez-faire leadership in the same domain is associated with increased bullying. Those results suggested that business development and organizational management are two distinct “arts,” and leadership in one domain does not complement the other. Practical implications and theoretical contributions are discussed.
