ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Organizational Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicResignation and Strategic Retention: Shaping the Future WorkforceView all 15 articles
The Impact of Destructive Leadership on Turnover Intention among Chinese Technology Professionals: The Mediating Role of Job Burnout and the Moderating Role of Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy
Provisionally accepted
- Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
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Introduction: Destructive leadership is conceptualized as a social job demand that depletes employees' psychological resources. Drawing on the Job Demands–Resources (JD–R) theory, we tested the mediating role of job burnout in the link between destructive leadership and turnover intention, and the moderating effect of regulatory emotional self-efficacy (RESE) on the direct path from destructive leadership to turnover intention. Methods: We analyzed survey data from 403 Chinese technology professionals using validated scales. Further, we tested whether job burnout mediates the link between destructive leadership and turnover intention, and whether RESE weakens the direct association between destructive leadership and turnover intention. Results: Destructive leadership and turnover intention were positively associated. Job burnout partially mediated this link (significant indirect effect), and RESE attenuated it; simple-slope tests revealed a weaker association for employees with higher RESE. Conclusion: The findings position destructive leadership as a resource-depleting social demand within JD–R, confirming burnout as a proximal mechanism linking it to turnover intention, and identifying RESE as a psychological buffer of the direct pathway. Organizations should deter destructive leadership and strengthen employees' RESE to sustain well-being and mitigate talent loss in high-pressure technology settings.
Keywords: Destructive leadership, turnover intention, Job burnout, Regulatory emotional self-efficacy, job demands–resources theory, Technology professionals, Mediation, moderated direct effect
Received: 03 Sep 2025; Accepted: 31 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Wang and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Song-Qing Chen, chensongqing@yzu.edu.cn
Shu-Li Wang, wangshuli@yzu.edu.cn
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