Gaslighting and Employees’ Sustainable Performance: An Empirical Study of Nestle Nigeria PLC

Abstract

Gaslighting has been construed as the psychological manipulation of a person by another to gain control. This also plays out in the workplace. Although few studies on the effects of gaslighting on employees' performance have been conducted; there is a paucity of Nigerian indigenous studies in the gaslighting literature. Consequently, this study seeks to cover this knowledge gap by x-raying the effect of gaslighting on employees' sustainable performance in Nigeria. Towards achieving this end, two hundred copies of a well-structured questionnaire were administered to employees of Nestle Nigeria PLC. Regression analyses were carried out on the cross sectional data generated by the instrument in order to examine the different impacts of three nuances of gas lighting: psychological abuse of employees, depression and emotional abuse, on three measures of employees' sustainable performance: employees' commitment, employees' efficiency and employees' effectiveness. The result - B = -0.607, R2 = 0.544; F= 72.653; P value = 0.000 - for hypothesis one showed that psychological abuse has a significant influence on employees' sustainable performance. Also, the regression result - B = -0.007; R2 = 0.512; F = 65.653; P- value = 0.000 - for hypothesis two, revealed that depression has a significant impact on employees' sustainable performance. Lastly, regression result - B = 0.115; R2 = 0.579; F = 102.333; P- value = 0.000, indicates that emotional abuse has significant impact on employees' sustainable performance. Based on these results, the study concluded that gaslighting has an impact on employees' sustainable performance. Hence managers of organsations need to prioritise the detection and prevention of gaslighting behaviours; as they significantly undermine employees' commitment, employees' efficiency and employees' effectiveness. Implementing effective policies and interventions to address gas lighting could help foster employees' sustainable performance.