Undue political interference, Internal organizational environment, and Dysfunctional leadership : A qualitative inquiry in a public sector organization

Anwar, Shamyla and Simm, David and Shah, Uzair and Iszatt-White, Marian and Humphrey, Ronald (2026) Undue political interference, Internal organizational environment, and Dysfunctional leadership : A qualitative inquiry in a public sector organization. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

There has been voluminous research on leadership. However, the existing literature generally discusses the toxicity and insecurity created by leaders for their followers and the adverse outcomes for the followers. Specifically, the interaction between leaders' dysfunctional behavior and external and internal organizational contextual factors is under-addressed in the literature. To address this research gap, the current study explores leaders’ views on dysfunctional leadership in the context of an adverse organizational environment and undue political interference in Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), a public-sector organization. Drawing on an interpretivist philosophical stance, the current study employs a qualitative approach using a single-case study design. The participants of the research are thirty-two top leaders currently serving at or retired from PIA. They were approached through purposive and snowball sampling. The qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with the participants and analyzed using thematic analysis. The study presents data-driven findings as themes and sub-themes. It has been found that dysfunctional leadership in PIA is reflected by dysfunctional behaviors of leaders, internal organizational environment, and excessive external political interventions. Based upon these findings, this study presents a multilayered, integrative framework of dysfunctional leadership, as reflected in Figure 2. The study contributes to the existing body of literature on dysfunctional leadership by providing an understanding of the underpinning factors, different ways that shape the dysfunctional leadership, and how these are interlinked and reinforce each other. The study also provides implications for the leadership of public sector organizations to improve their functionality.