Inside the Toxic Triangle: An Integrated Conceptual Analysis of Destructive Leadership Dynamics

This paper offers a critical synthesis of the toxic triangle framework, confirming its merit as an inclusive lens through which to view toxic leadership as part of systemic dysfunction (rather than merely individual pathology). The destructive leadership dimensions include toxic leadership, susceptible followers and conducive environment. It has described how toxic leaders find a foothold in crises, how the psychology of followers from fear to ambition sustains their compliance and how vulnerable institutional contexts enable its proliferation. The main added value of this paper is embedding this model in contemporary digital workplaces against hybrid, post-pandemic uncertain and volatile backgrounds that may enhance existing drawbacks and generate new ones (e.g., digital monitoring, distancing employees from physical workplace).