Abstract
Why leaders behave the way they do is of considerable importance. Our goal in this research was to understand how family‐to‐work conflict and romantic relationship conflict influence two different forms of destructive leadership, namely abusive supervision and passive leadership. To do so, we invoke the conservation of resources theory. 123 leader‐follower dyads participated. Leaders completed questionnaires on their own family‐to‐work conflict and romantic relationship conflict, depressive symptoms and cognitive distraction. Their followers rated their abusive supervision and passive leadership. Using Hayes’s PROCESS program, depressive symptoms mediated the effects of family‐to work conflict and romantic relationship conflict on abusive supervision, while cognitive distraction mediated the effects of family‐to work conflict on passive leadership. Implications and several directions for further research are offered.