Abstract
Purpose
The concept of dark leadership in organisational research has been largely defined in terms of disruptive leadership styles that include abusive supervision, toxic leadership, and authoritarian leadership. However, organisational underperformance can also result from passive leadership styles that do not involve any direct hostility or manipulation. In this context, this paper introduces the concept of strategic withholding (SW) as a type of passive dark leadership that is defined in terms of the direct or habitual withholding of strategic direction or organisational clarity. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise the role of organisational leadership inaction in the development of organisational decision paralysis in terms of prolonged ambiguity in the organisational decision environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design for this paper is qualitative in nature and follows an interpretivist epistemological perspective. An inductive research approach is proposed in this context to empirically examine the concept of strategic withholding in terms of organisational leadership styles.
Findings
The proposed conceptual framework suggests that organisational inaction in terms of leadership can result in organisational uncertainty in terms of role ambiguity and delayed organisational decision-making.
Originality/value
The proposed concept of strategic withholding in this paper introduces the concept of organisational leadership inaction in terms of organisational decision-making in the broader context of organisational dark leadership research that has been largely defined in terms of active destructive organisational leadership styles.