At the cost of others: the concept of exploitative leadership

The construct of exploitative leadership has been introduced to offer a nuanced understanding of self-interested leaders. At the core of this concept is the idea of leaders inappropriately using their followers for personal gain. This chapter will explore the dynamics of leader-follower exploitation and the development of exploitative leadership as a distinct theoretical concept with measurable attributes. Our goal is to provide a concise yet thorough overview of existing research in this domain, while also enriching the discourse by introducing novel viewpoints and identifying potential avenues for future research as well as practical implications.