A moderated mediation model of despotic leadership and knowledge sabotage behavior Usman, Muhammad Garavan, Thomas Karatepe, Osman M. Akhtar, Muhammad Waheed Rescalvo Martín, Silvia Elisa Aslam, Muhammad Kashif Our paper develops and tests a moderated mediation model of despotic leadership (DL) and knowledge sabotage behavior (KSB). The model assesses: (a) the link between DL and KSB; (b) emotional dissonance as a mediator between DL and KSB; (c) willpower and waypower as the two moderators of the effect of DL on the aforesaid undesirable outcome; and (d) willpower and waypower as the two moderators of the effect of DL on KSB via emotional dissonance. To gauge these relationships, we used time-lagged data obtained from hotel frontline employees. Most of the hypothesized associations are supported, and the model we proposed is viable. Managers’ DL heightens employees’ KSBs, and emotional dissonance mediates this link. FLEs’ waypower reduces the detrimental effect of DL on KSB. Waypower also mitigates the deleterious effect of DL on the said outcome via emotional dissonance. 2025-04-09T12:18:33Z 2025-04-09T12:18:33Z 2025-01 journal article Published version: M. Usman et al. (2025). A moderated mediation model of despotic leadership and knowledge sabotage behavior. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 124, 103966. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2024.103966 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/103564 10.1016/j.ijhm.2024.103966 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ embargoed access Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License Elsevier