limitations and future research

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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper

• Limitations of the Study
• Purpose of Guide
• Design Flaws to Avoid
• Independent and Dependent Variables
• Glossary of Research Terms
• Reading Research Effectively
• Narrowing a Topic Idea
• Broadening a Topic Idea
• Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea
• Academic Writing Style
• Applying Critical Thinking
• Choosing a Title
• Making an Outline
• Paragraph Development
• Research Process Video Series
• Executive Summary
• The C.A.R.S. Model
• Background Information
• The Research Problem/Question
• Theoretical Framework
• Citation Tracking
• Content Alert Services
• Evaluating Sources
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Tiertiary Sources
• Scholarly vs. Popular Publications
• Qualitative Methods
• Quantitative Methods
• Insiderness
• Using Non-Textual Elements
• Common Grammar Mistakes
• Writing Concisely
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Footnotes or Endnotes?
• Further Readings
• Generative AI and Writing
• USC Libraries Tutorials and Other Guides
• Bibliography

The limitations of the study are those characteristics of design or methodology that impacted or influenced the interpretation of the findings from your research. Study limitations are the constraints placed on the ability to generalize from the results, to further describe applications to practice, and/or related to the utility of findings that are the result of the ways in which you initially chose to design the study or the method used to establish internal and external validity or the result of unanticipated challenges that emerged during the study.

Price, James H. and Judy Murnan. “Research Limitations and the Necessity of Reporting Them.” American Journal of Health Education 35 (2004): 66-67; Theofanidis, Dimitrios and Antigoni Fountouki. "Limitations and Delimitations in the Research Process." Perioperative Nursing 7 (September-December 2018): 155-163. .

Importance of...

Always acknowledge a study's limitations. It is far better that you identify and acknowledge your study’s limitations than to have them pointed out by your professor and have your grade lowered because you appeared to have ignored them or didn't realize they existed.

Keep in mind that acknowledgment of a study's limitations is an opportunity to make suggestions for further research. If you do connect your study's limitations to suggestions for further research, be sure to explain the ways in which these unanswered questions may become more focused because of your study.

Acknowledgment of a study's limitations also provides you with opportunities to demonstrate that you have thought critically about the research problem, understood the relevant literature published about it, and correctly assessed the methods chosen for studying the problem. A key objective of the research process is not only discovering new knowledge but also to confront assumptions and explore what we don't know.

Claiming limitations is a subjective process because you must evaluate the impact of those limitations . Don't just list key weaknesses and the magnitude of a study's limitations. To do so diminishes the validity of your research because it leaves the reader wondering whether, or in what ways, limitation(s) in your study may have impacted the results and conclusions. Limitations require a critical, overall appraisal and interpretation of their impact. You should answer the question: do these problems with errors, methods, validity, etc. eventually matter and, if so, to what extent?

Price, James H. and Judy Murnan. “Research Limitations and the Necessity of Reporting Them.” American Journal of Health Education 35 (2004): 66-67; Structure: How to Structure the Research Limitations Section of Your Dissertation. Dissertations and Theses: An Online Textbook. Laerd.com.

Descriptions of Possible Limitations

All studies have limitations . However, it is important that you restrict your discussion to limitations related to the research problem under investigation. For example, if a meta-analysis of existing literature is not a stated purpose of your research, it should not be discussed as a limitation. Do not apologize for not addressing issues that you did not promise to investigate in the introduction of your paper.

Here are examples of limitations related to methodology and the research process you may need to describe and discuss how they possibly impacted your results. Note that descriptions of limitations should be stated in the past tense because they were discovered after you completed your research.

Possible Methodological Limitations

• Sample size -- the number of the units of analysis you use in your study is dictated by the type of research problem you are investigating. Note that, if your sample size is too small, it will be difficult to find significant relationships from the data, as statistical tests normally require a larger sample size to ensure a representative distribution of the population and to be considered representative of groups of people to whom results will be generalized or transferred. Note that sample size is generally less relevant in qualitative research if explained in the context of the research problem.
• Lack of available and/or reliable data -- a lack of data or of reliable data will likely require you to limit the scope of your analysis, the size of your sample, or it can be a significant obstacle in finding a trend and a meaningful relationship. You need to not only describe these limitations but provide cogent reasons why you believe data is missing or is unreliable. However, don’t just throw up your hands in frustration; use this as an opportunity to describe a need for future research based on designing a different method for gathering data.
• Lack of prior research studies on the topic -- citing prior research studies forms the basis of your literature review and helps lay a foundation for understanding the research problem you are investigating. Depending on the currency or scope of your research topic, there may be little, if any, prior research on your topic. Before assuming this to be true, though, consult with a librarian! In cases when a librarian has confirmed that there is little or no prior research, you may be required to develop an entirely new research typology [for example, using an exploratory rather than an explanatory research design ]. Note again that discovering a limitation can serve as an important opportunity to identify new gaps in the literature and to describe the need for further research.
• Measure used to collect the data -- sometimes it is the case that, after completing your interpretation of the findings, you discover that the way in which you gathered data inhibited your ability to conduct a thorough analysis of the results. For example, you regret not including a specific question in a survey that, in retrospect, could have helped address a particular issue that emerged later in the study. Acknowledge the deficiency by stating a need for future researchers to revise the specific method for gathering data.
• Self-reported data -- whether you are relying on pre-existing data or you are conducting a qualitative research study and gathering the data yourself, self-reported data is limited by the fact that it rarely can be independently verified. In other words, you have to the accuracy of what people say, whether in interviews, focus groups, or on questionnaires, at face value. However, self-reported data can contain several potential sources of bias that you should be alert to and note as limitations. These biases become apparent if they are incongruent with data from other sources. These are: (1) selective memory [remembering or not remembering experiences or events that occurred at some point in the past]; (2) telescoping [recalling events that occurred at one time as if they occurred at another time]; (3) attribution [the act of attributing positive events and outcomes to one's own agency, but attributing negative events and outcomes to external forces]; and, (4) exaggeration [the act of representing outcomes or embellishing events as more significant than is actually suggested from other data].

Possible Limitations of the Researcher

• Access -- if your study depends on having access to people, organizations, data, or documents and, for whatever reason, access is denied or limited in some way, the reasons for this needs to be described. Also, include an explanation why being denied or limited access did not prevent you from following through on your study.
• Longitudinal effects -- unlike your professor, who can literally devote years [even a lifetime] to studying a single topic, the time available to investigate a research problem and to measure change or stability over time is constrained by the due date of your assignment. Be sure to choose a research problem that does not require an excessive amount of time to complete the literature review, apply the methodology, and gather and interpret the results. If you're unsure whether you can complete your research within the confines of the assignment's due date, talk to your professor.
• Cultural and other type of bias -- we all have biases, whether we are conscience of them or not. Bias is when a person, place, event, or thing is viewed or shown in a consistently inaccurate way. Bias is usually negative, though one can have a positive bias as well, especially if that bias reflects your reliance on research that only support your hypothesis. When proof-reading your paper, be especially critical in reviewing how you have stated a problem, selected the data to be studied, what may have been omitted, the manner in which you have ordered events, people, or places, how you have chosen to represent a person, place, or thing, to name a phenomenon, or to use possible words with a positive or negative connotation. NOTE :   If you detect bias in prior research, it must be acknowledged and you should explain what measures were taken to avoid perpetuating that bias. For example, if a previous study only used boys to examine how music education supports effective math skills, describe how your research expands the study to include girls.
• Fluency in a language -- if your research focuses , for example, on measuring the perceived value of after-school tutoring among Mexican-American ESL [English as a Second Language] students and you are not fluent in Spanish, you are limited in being able to read and interpret Spanish language research studies on the topic or to speak with these students in their primary language. This deficiency should be acknowledged.

Aguinis, Hermam and Jeffrey R. Edwards. “Methodological Wishes for the Next Decade and How to Make Wishes Come True.” Journal of Management Studies 51 (January 2014): 143-174; Brutus, Stéphane et al. "Self-Reported Limitations and Future Directions in Scholarly Reports: Analysis and Recommendations." Journal of Management 39 (January 2013): 48-75; Senunyeme, Emmanuel K. Business Research Methods. Powerpoint Presentation. Regent University of Science and Technology; ter Riet, Gerben et al. “All That Glitters Isn't Gold: A Survey on Acknowledgment of Limitations in Biomedical Studies.” PLOS One 8 (November 2013): 1-6.

Structure and Writing Style

Information about the limitations of your study are generally placed either at the beginning of the discussion section of your paper so the reader knows and understands the limitations before reading the rest of your analysis of the findings, or, the limitations are outlined at the conclusion of the discussion section as an acknowledgement of the need for further study. Statements about a study's limitations should not be buried in the body [middle] of the discussion section unless a limitation is specific to something covered in that part of the paper. If this is the case, though, the limitation should be reiterated at the conclusion of the section.

If you determine that your study is seriously flawed due to important limitations , such as, an inability to acquire critical data, consider reframing it as an exploratory study intended to lay the groundwork for a more complete research study in the future. Be sure, though, to specifically explain the ways that these flaws can be successfully overcome in a new study.

But, do not use this as an excuse for not developing a thorough research paper! Review the tab in this guide for developing a research topic . If serious limitations exist, it generally indicates a likelihood that your research problem is too narrowly defined or that the issue or event under study is too recent and, thus, very little research has been written about it. If serious limitations do emerge, consult with your professor about possible ways to overcome them or how to revise your study.

When discussing the limitations of your research, be sure to:

• Describe each limitation in detailed but concise terms;
• Explain why each limitation exists;
• Provide the reasons why each limitation could not be overcome using the method(s) chosen to acquire or gather the data [cite to other studies that had similar problems when possible];
• Assess the impact of each limitation in relation to the overall findings and conclusions of your study; and,
• If appropriate, describe how these limitations could point to the need for further research.

Remember that the method you chose may be the source of a significant limitation that has emerged during your interpretation of the results [for example, you didn't interview a group of people that you later wish you had]. If this is the case, don't panic. Acknowledge it, and explain how applying a different or more robust methodology might address the research problem more effectively in a future study. A underlying goal of scholarly research is not only to show what works, but to demonstrate what doesn't work or what needs further clarification.

Aguinis, Hermam and Jeffrey R. Edwards. “Methodological Wishes for the Next Decade and How to Make Wishes Come True.” Journal of Management Studies 51 (January 2014): 143-174; Brutus, Stéphane et al. "Self-Reported Limitations and Future Directions in Scholarly Reports: Analysis and Recommendations." Journal of Management 39 (January 2013): 48-75; Ioannidis, John P.A. "Limitations are not Properly Acknowledged in the Scientific Literature." Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 60 (2007): 324-329; Pasek, Josh. Writing the Empirical Social Science Research Paper: A Guide for the Perplexed. January 24, 2012. Academia.edu; Structure: How to Structure the Research Limitations Section of Your Dissertation. Dissertations and Theses: An Online Textbook. Laerd.com; What Is an Academic Paper? Institute for Writing Rhetoric. Dartmouth College; Writing the Experimental Report: Methods, Results, and Discussion. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University.

Writing Tip

Don't Inflate the Importance of Your Findings!

After all the hard work and long hours devoted to writing your research paper, it is easy to get carried away with attributing unwarranted importance to what you’ve done. We all want our academic work to be viewed as excellent and worthy of a good grade, but it is important that you understand and openly acknowledge the limitations of your study. Inflating the importance of your study's findings could be perceived by your readers as an attempt hide its flaws or encourage a biased interpretation of the results. A small measure of humility goes a long way!

Another Writing Tip

Negative Results are Not a Limitation!

Negative evidence refers to findings that unexpectedly challenge rather than support your hypothesis. If you didn't get the results you anticipated, it may mean your hypothesis was incorrect and needs to be reformulated. Or, perhaps you have stumbled onto something unexpected that warrants further study. Moreover, the absence of an effect may be very telling in many situations, particularly in experimental research designs. In any case, your results may very well be of importance to others even though they did not support your hypothesis. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that results contrary to what you expected is a limitation to your study. If you carried out the research well, they are simply your results and only require additional interpretation.

Lewis, George H. and Jonathan F. Lewis. “The Dog in the Night-Time: Negative Evidence in Social Research.” The British Journal of Sociology 31 (December 1980): 544-558.

Yet Another Writing Tip

Sample Size Limitations in Qualitative Research

Sample sizes are typically smaller in qualitative research because, as the study goes on, acquiring more data does not necessarily lead to more information. This is because one occurrence of a piece of data, or a code, is all that is necessary to ensure that it becomes part of the analysis framework. However, it remains true that sample sizes that are too small cannot adequately support claims of having achieved valid conclusions and sample sizes that are too large do not permit the deep, naturalistic, and inductive analysis that defines qualitative inquiry. Determining adequate sample size in qualitative research is ultimately a matter of judgment and experience in evaluating the quality of the information collected against the uses to which it will be applied and the particular research method and purposeful sampling strategy employed. If the sample size is found to be a limitation, it may reflect your judgment about the methodological technique chosen [e.g., single life history study versus focus group interviews] rather than the number of respondents used.

Boddy, Clive Roland. "Sample Size for Qualitative Research." Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal 19 (2016): 426-432; Huberman, A. Michael and Matthew B. Miles. "Data Management and Analysis Methods." In Handbook of Qualitative Research . Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln, eds. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1994), pp. 428-444; Blaikie, Norman. "Confounding Issues Related to Determining Sample Size in Qualitative Research." International Journal of Social Research Methodology 21 (2018): 635-641; Oppong, Steward Harrison. "The Problem of Sampling in qualitative Research." Asian Journal of Management Sciences and Education 2 (2013): 202-210.

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Research Limitations 101 📖

A Plain-Language Explainer (With Practical Examples)

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) | Expert Reviewer: Dr. Eunice Rautenbach | May 2024

Research limitations are one of those things that students tend to avoid digging into, and understandably so. No one likes to critique their own study and point out weaknesses. Nevertheless, being able to understand the limitations of your study – and, just as importantly, the implications thereof – a is a critically important skill.

In this post, we’ll unpack some of the most common research limitations you’re likely to encounter, so that you can approach your project with confidence.

Overview: Research Limitations 101

• What are research limitations ?
• Access – based limitations
• Temporal & financial limitations
• Sample & sampling limitations
• Design limitations
• Researcher limitations
• Key takeaways

What (exactly) are “research limitations”?

At the simplest level, research limitations (also referred to as “the limitations of the study”) are the constraints and challenges that will invariably influence your ability to conduct your study and draw reliable conclusions .

Research limitations are inevitable. Absolutely no study is perfect and limitations are an inherent part of any research design. These limitations can stem from a variety of sources , including access to data, methodological choices, and the more mundane constraints of budget and time. So, there’s no use trying to escape them – what matters is that you can recognise them.

Acknowledging and understanding these limitations is crucial, not just for the integrity of your research, but also for your development as a scholar. That probably sounds a bit rich, but realistically, having a strong understanding of the limitations of any given study helps you handle the inevitable obstacles professionally and transparently, which in turn builds trust with your audience and academic peers.

Simply put, recognising and discussing the limitations of your study demonstrates that you know what you’re doing , and that you’ve considered the results of your project within the context of these limitations. In other words, discussing the limitations is a sign of credibility and strength – not weakness. Contrary to the common misconception, highlighting your limitations (or rather, your study’s limitations) will earn you (rather than cost you) marks.

So, with that foundation laid, let’s have a look at some of the most common research limitations you’re likely to encounter – and how to go about managing them as effectively as possible.

Need a helping hand?

Limitation #1: Access To Information

One of the first hurdles you might encounter is limited access to necessary information. For example, you may have trouble getting access to specific literature or niche data sets. This situation can manifest due to several reasons, including paywalls, copyright and licensing issues or language barriers.

To minimise situations like these, it’s useful to try to leverage your university’s resource pool to the greatest extent possible. In practical terms, this means engaging with your university’s librarian and/or potentially utilising interlibrary loans to get access to restricted resources. If this sounds foreign to you, have a chat with your librarian 🙃

In emerging fields or highly specific study areas, you might find that there’s very little existing research (i.e., literature) on your topic. This scenario, while challenging, also offers a unique opportunity to contribute significantly to your field , as it indicates that there’s a significant research gap .

All of that said, be sure to conduct an exhaustive search using a variety of keywords and Boolean operators before assuming that there’s a lack of literature. Also, remember to snowball your literature base . In other words, scan the reference lists of the handful of papers that are directly relevant and then scan those references for more sources. You can also consider using tools like Litmaps and Connected Papers (see video below).

Limitation #2: Time & Money

Almost every researcher will face time and budget constraints at some point. Naturally, these limitations can affect the depth and breadth of your research – but they don’t need to be a death sentence.

Effective planning is crucial to managing both the temporal and financial aspects of your study. In practical terms, utilising tools like Gantt charts can help you visualise and plan your research timeline realistically, thereby reducing the risk of any nasty surprises. Always take a conservative stance when it comes to timelines, especially if you’re new to academic research. As a rule of thumb, things will generally take twice as long as you expect – so, prepare for the worst-case scenario.

If budget is a concern, you might want to consider exploring small research grants or adjusting the scope of your study so that it fits within a realistic budget. Trimming back might sound unattractive, but keep in mind that a smaller, well-planned study can often be more impactful than a larger, poorly planned project.

If you find yourself in a position where you’ve already run out of cash, don’t panic. There’s usually a pivot opportunity hidden somewhere within your project. Engage with your research advisor or faculty to explore potential solutions – don’t make any major changes without first consulting your institution.

Limitation #3: Sample Size & Composition

As we’ve discussed before , the size and representativeness of your sample are crucial , especially in quantitative research where the robustness of your conclusions often depends on these factors. All too often though, students run into issues achieving a sufficient sample size and composition.

To ensure adequacy in terms of your sample size, it’s important to plan for potential dropouts by oversampling from the outset . In other words, if you aim for a final sample size of 100 participants, aim to recruit 120-140 to account for unexpected challenges. If you still find yourself short on participants, consider whether you could complement your dataset with secondary data or data from an adjacent sample – for example, participants from another city or country. That said, be sure to engage with your research advisor before making any changes to your approach.

A related issue that you may run into is sample composition. In other words, you may have trouble securing a random sample that’s representative of your population of interest. In cases like this, you might again want to look at ways to complement your dataset with other sources, but if that’s not possible, it’s not the end of the world. As with all limitations, you’ll just need to recognise this limitation in your final write-up and be sure to interpret your results accordingly. In other words, don’t claim generalisability of your results if your sample isn’t random.

Limitation #4: Methodological Limitations

As we alluded earlier, every methodological choice comes with its own set of limitations . For example, you can’t claim causality if you’re using a descriptive or correlational research design. Similarly, as we saw in the previous example, you can’t claim generalisability if you’re using a non-random sampling approach.

Making good methodological choices is all about understanding (and accepting) the inherent trade-offs . In the vast majority of cases, you won’t be able to adopt the “perfect” methodology – and that’s okay. What’s important is that you select a methodology that aligns with your research aims and research questions , as well as the practical constraints at play (e.g., time, money, equipment access, etc.). Just as importantly, you must recognise and articulate the limitations of your chosen methods, and justify why they were the most suitable, given your specific context.

Limitation #5: Researcher (In)experience 

A discussion about research limitations would not be complete without mentioning the researcher (that’s you!). Whether we like to admit it or not, researcher inexperience and personal biases can subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) influence the interpretation and presentation of data within a study. This is especially true when it comes to dissertations and theses , as these are most commonly undertaken by first-time (or relatively fresh) researchers.

When it comes to dealing with this specific limitation, it’s important to remember the adage “ We don’t know what we don’t know ”. In other words, recognise and embrace your (relative) ignorance and subjectivity – and interpret your study’s results within that context . Simply put, don’t be overly confident in drawing conclusions from your study – especially when they contradict existing literature.

Cultivating a culture of reflexivity within your research practices can help reduce subjectivity and keep you a bit more “rooted” in the data. In practical terms, this simply means making an effort to become aware of how your perspectives and experiences may have shaped the research process and outcomes.

As with any new endeavour in life, it’s useful to garner as many outsider perspectives as possible. Of course, your university-assigned research advisor will play a large role in this respect, but it’s also a good idea to seek out feedback and critique from other academics. To this end, you might consider approaching other faculty at your institution, joining an online group, or even working with a private coach .

Key Takeaways

Understanding and effectively navigating research limitations is key to conducting credible and reliable academic work. By acknowledging and addressing these limitations upfront, you not only enhance the integrity of your research, but also demonstrate your academic maturity and professionalism.

Whether you’re working on a dissertation, thesis or any other type of formal academic research, remember the five most common research limitations and interpret your data while keeping them in mind.

• Access to Information (literature and data)
• Time and money
• Sample size and composition
• Research design and methodology
• Researcher (in)experience and bias

If you need a hand identifying and mitigating the limitations within your study, check out our 1:1 private coaching service .

Psst… there’s more!

This post is an extract from our bestselling short course, Methodology Bootcamp . If you want to work smart, you don't want to miss this .

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How to present limitations in research

Last updated

30 January 2024

Reviewed by

Limitations don’t invalidate or diminish your results, but it’s best to acknowledge them. This will enable you to address any questions your study failed to answer because of them.

In this guide, learn how to recognize, present, and overcome limitations in research.

• What is a research limitation?

Research limitations are weaknesses in your research design or execution that may have impacted outcomes and conclusions. Uncovering limitations doesn’t necessarily indicate poor research design—it just means you encountered challenges you couldn’t have anticipated that limited your research efforts.

Does basic research have limitations?

Basic research aims to provide more information about your research topic. It requires the same standard research methodology and data collection efforts as any other research type, and it can also have limitations.

• Common research limitations

Researchers encounter common limitations when embarking on a study. Limitations can occur in relation to the methods you apply or the research process you design. They could also be connected to you as the researcher.

Methodology limitations

Not having access to data or reliable information can impact the methods used to facilitate your research. A lack of data or reliability may limit the parameters of your study area and the extent of your exploration.

Your sample size may also be affected because you won’t have any direction on how big or small it should be and who or what you should include. Having too few participants won’t adequately represent the population or groups of people needed to draw meaningful conclusions.

Research process limitations

The study’s design can impose constraints on the process. For example, as you’re conducting the research, issues may arise that don’t conform to the data collection methodology you developed. You may not realize until well into the process that you should have incorporated more specific questions or comprehensive experiments to generate the data you need to have confidence in your results.

Constraints on resources can also have an impact. Being limited on participants or participation incentives may limit your sample sizes. Insufficient tools, equipment, and materials to conduct a thorough study may also be a factor.

Common researcher limitations

Here are some of the common researcher limitations you may encounter:

Time: some research areas require multi-year longitudinal approaches, but you might not be able to dedicate that much time. Imagine you want to measure how much memory a person loses as they age. This may involve conducting multiple tests on a sample of participants over 20–30 years, which may be impossible.

Bias: researchers can consciously or unconsciously apply bias to their research. Biases can contribute to relying on research sources and methodologies that will only support your beliefs about the research you’re embarking on. You might also omit relevant issues or participants from the scope of your study because of your biases.

Limited access to data : you may need to pay to access specific databases or journals that would be helpful to your research process. You might also need to gain information from certain people or organizations but have limited access to them. These cases require readjusting your process and explaining why your findings are still reliable.

• Why is it important to identify limitations?

Identifying limitations adds credibility to research and provides a deeper understanding of how you arrived at your conclusions.

Constraints may have prevented you from collecting specific data or information you hoped would prove or disprove your hypothesis or provide a more comprehensive understanding of your research topic.

However, identifying the limitations contributing to your conclusions can inspire further research efforts that help gather more substantial information and data.

• Where to put limitations in a research paper

A research paper is broken up into different sections that appear in the following order:

Introduction

Methodology

The discussion portion of your paper explores your findings and puts them in the context of the overall research. Either place research limitations at the beginning of the discussion section before the analysis of your findings or at the end of the section to indicate that further research needs to be pursued.

What not to include in the limitations section

Evidence that doesn’t support your hypothesis is not a limitation, so you shouldn’t include it in the limitation section. Don’t just list limitations and their degree of severity without further explanation.

• How to present limitations

You’ll want to present the limitations of your study in a way that doesn’t diminish the validity of your research and leave the reader wondering if your results and conclusions have been compromised.

Include only the limitations that directly relate to and impact how you addressed your research questions. Following a specific format enables the reader to develop an understanding of the weaknesses within the context of your findings without doubting the quality and integrity of your research.

Identify the limitations specific to your study

You don’t have to identify every possible limitation that might have occurred during your research process. Only identify those that may have influenced the quality of your findings and your ability to answer your research question.

Explain study limitations in detail

This explanation should be the most significant portion of your limitation section.

Link each limitation with an interpretation and appraisal of their impact on the study. You’ll have to evaluate and explain whether the error, method, or validity issues influenced the study’s outcome and how.

Propose a direction for future studies and present alternatives

In this section, suggest how researchers can avoid the pitfalls you experienced during your research process.

If an issue with methodology was a limitation, propose alternate methods that may help with a smoother and more conclusive research project. Discuss the pros and cons of your alternate recommendation.

Describe steps taken to minimize each limitation

You probably took steps to try to address or mitigate limitations when you noticed them throughout the course of your research project. Describe these steps in the limitation section.

• Limitation example

“Approaches like stem cell transplantation and vaccination in AD [Alzheimer’s disease] work on a cellular or molecular level in the laboratory. However, translation into clinical settings will remain a challenge for the next decade.”

The authors are saying that even though these methods showed promise in helping people with memory loss when conducted in the lab (in other words, using animal studies), more studies are needed. These may be controlled clinical trials, for example. 

However, the short life span of stem cells outside the lab and the vaccination’s severe inflammatory side effects are limitations. Researchers won’t be able to conduct clinical trials until these issues are overcome.

• How to overcome limitations in research

You’ve already started on the road to overcoming limitations in research by acknowledging that they exist. However, you need to ensure readers don’t mistake weaknesses for errors within your research design.

To do this, you’ll need to justify and explain your rationale for the methods, research design, and analysis tools you chose and how you noticed they may have presented limitations.

Your readers need to know that even when limitations presented themselves, you followed best practices and the ethical standards of your field. You didn’t violate any rules and regulations during your research process.

You’ll also want to reinforce the validity of your conclusions and results with multiple sources, methods, and perspectives. This prevents readers from assuming your findings were derived from a single or biased source.

• Learning and improving starts with limitations in research

Dealing with limitations with transparency and integrity helps identify areas for future improvements and developments. It’s a learning process, providing valuable insights into how you can improve methodologies, expand sample sizes, or explore alternate approaches to further support the validity of your findings.

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Home » Future Research – Thesis Guide

Future Research – Thesis Guide

Table of Contents

Future Research

Definition:

Future research refers to investigations and studies that are yet to be conducted, and are aimed at expanding our understanding of a particular subject or area of interest. Future research is typically based on the current state of knowledge and seeks to address unanswered questions, gaps in knowledge, and new areas of inquiry.

How to Write Future Research in Thesis

Here are some steps to help you write effectively about future research in your thesis :

• Identify a research gap: Before you start writing about future research, identify the areas that need further investigation. Look for research gaps and inconsistencies in the literature , and note them down.
• Specify research questions : Once you have identified a research gap, create a list of research questions that you would like to explore in future research. These research questions should be specific, measurable, and relevant to your thesis.
• Discuss limitations: Be sure to discuss any limitations of your research that may require further exploration. This will help to highlight the need for future research and provide a basis for further investigation.
• Suggest methodologies: Provide suggestions for methodologies that could be used to explore the research questions you have identified. Discuss the pros and cons of each methodology and how they would be suitable for your research.
• Explain significance: Explain the significance of the research you have proposed, and how it will contribute to the field. This will help to justify the need for future research and provide a basis for further investigation.
• Provide a timeline : Provide a timeline for the proposed research , indicating when each stage of the research would be conducted. This will help to give a sense of the practicalities involved in conducting the research.
• Conclusion : Summarize the key points you have made about future research and emphasize the importance of exploring the research questions you have identified.

Examples of Future Research in Thesis

SomeExamples of Future Research in Thesis are as follows:

Future Research:

Although this study provides valuable insights into the effects of social media on self-esteem, there are several avenues for future research that could build upon our findings. Firstly, our sample consisted solely of college students, so it would be beneficial to extend this research to other age groups and demographics. Additionally, our study focused only on the impact of social media use on self-esteem, but there are likely other factors that influence how social media affects individuals, such as personality traits and social support. Future research could examine these factors in greater depth. Lastly, while our study looked at the short-term effects of social media use on self-esteem, it would be interesting to explore the long-term effects over time. This could involve conducting longitudinal studies that follow individuals over a period of several years to assess changes in self-esteem and social media use.

While this study provides important insights into the relationship between sleep patterns and academic performance among college students, there are several avenues for future research that could further advance our understanding of this topic.

• This study relied on self-reported sleep patterns, which may be subject to reporting biases. Future research could benefit from using objective measures of sleep, such as actigraphy or polysomnography, to more accurately assess sleep duration and quality.
• This study focused on academic performance as the outcome variable, but there may be other important outcomes to consider, such as mental health or well-being. Future research could explore the relationship between sleep patterns and these other outcomes.
• This study only included college students, and it is unclear if these findings generalize to other populations, such as high school students or working adults. Future research could investigate whether the relationship between sleep patterns and academic performance varies across different populations.
• Fourth, this study did not explore the potential mechanisms underlying the relationship between sleep patterns and academic performance. Future research could investigate the role of factors such as cognitive functioning, motivation, and stress in this relationship.

Overall, there is a need for continued research on the relationship between sleep patterns and academic performance, as this has important implications for the health and well-being of students.

Further research could investigate the long-term effects of mindfulness-based interventions on mental health outcomes among individuals with chronic pain. A longitudinal study could be conducted to examine the sustainability of mindfulness practices in reducing pain-related distress and improving psychological well-being over time. The study could also explore the potential mediating and moderating factors that influence the relationship between mindfulness and mental health outcomes, such as emotional regulation, pain catastrophizing, and social support.

Purpose of Future Research in Thesis

Here are some general purposes of future research that you might consider including in your thesis:

• To address limitations: Your research may have limitations or unanswered questions that could be addressed by future studies. Identify these limitations and suggest potential areas for further research.
• To extend the research : You may have found interesting results in your research, but future studies could help to extend or replicate your findings. Identify these areas where future research could help to build on your work.
• To explore related topics : Your research may have uncovered related topics that were outside the scope of your study. Suggest areas where future research could explore these related topics in more depth.
• To compare different approaches : Your research may have used a particular methodology or approach, but there may be other approaches that could be compared to your approach. Identify these other approaches and suggest areas where future research could compare and contrast them.
• To test hypotheses : Your research may have generated hypotheses that could be tested in future studies. Identify these hypotheses and suggest areas where future research could test them.
• To address practical implications : Your research may have practical implications that could be explored in future studies. Identify these practical implications and suggest areas where future research could investigate how to apply them in practice.

Applications of Future Research

Some examples of applications of future research that you could include in your thesis are:

• Development of new technologies or methods: If your research involves the development of new technologies or methods, you could discuss potential applications of these innovations in future research or practical settings. For example, if you have developed a new drug delivery system, you could speculate about how it might be used in the treatment of other diseases or conditions.
• Extension of your research: If your research only scratches the surface of a particular topic, you could suggest potential avenues for future research that could build upon your findings. For example, if you have studied the effects of a particular drug on a specific population, you could suggest future research that explores the drug’s effects on different populations or in combination with other treatments.
• Investigation of related topics: If your research is part of a larger field or area of inquiry, you could suggest potential research topics that are related to your work. For example, if you have studied the effects of climate change on a particular species, you could suggest future research that explores the impacts of climate change on other species or ecosystems.
• Testing of hypotheses: If your research has generated hypotheses or theories, you could suggest potential experiments or studies that could test these hypotheses in future research. For example, if you have proposed a new theory about the mechanisms of a particular disease, you could suggest experiments that could test this theory in other populations or in different disease contexts.

Advantage of Future Research

Including future research in a thesis has several advantages:

• Demonstrates critical thinking: Including future research shows that the author has thought deeply about the topic and recognizes its limitations. It also demonstrates that the author is interested in advancing the field and is not satisfied with only providing a narrow analysis of the issue at hand.
• Provides a roadmap for future research : Including future research can help guide researchers in the field by suggesting areas that require further investigation. This can help to prevent researchers from repeating the same work and can lead to more efficient use of resources.
• Shows engagement with the field : By including future research, the author demonstrates their engagement with the field and their understanding of ongoing debates and discussions. This can be especially important for students who are just entering the field and want to show their commitment to ongoing research.
• I ncreases the impact of the thesis : Including future research can help to increase the impact of the thesis by highlighting its potential implications for future research and practical applications. This can help to generate interest in the work and attract attention from researchers and practitioners in the field.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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What are the limitations in research and how to write them?

Learn about the potential limitations in research and how to appropriately address them in order to deliver honest and ethical research.

It is fairly uncommon for researchers to stumble into the term research limitations when working on their research paper. Limitations in research can arise owing to constraints on design, methods, materials, and so on, and these aspects, unfortunately, may have an influence on your subject’s findings.

In this Mind The Graph’s article, we’ll discuss some recommendations for writing limitations in research , provide examples of various common types of limitations, and suggest how to properly present this information.

What are the limitations in research?

The limitations in research are the constraints in design, methods or even researchers’ limitations that affect and influence the interpretation of your research’s ultimate findings. These are limitations on the generalization and usability of findings that emerge from the design of the research and/or the method employed to ensure validity both internally and externally. 

Researchers are usually cautious to acknowledge the limitations of their research in their publications for fear of undermining the research’s scientific validity. No research is faultless or covers every possible angle. As a result, addressing the constraints of your research exhibits honesty and integrity .

Why should include limitations of research in my paper?

Though limitations tackle potential flaws in research, commenting on them at the conclusion of your paper, by demonstrating that you are aware of these limitations and explaining how they impact the conclusions that may be taken from the research, improves your research by disclosing any issues before other researchers or reviewers do . 

Additionally, emphasizing research constraints implies that you have thoroughly investigated the ramifications of research shortcomings and have a thorough understanding of your research problem. 

Limits exist in any research; being honest about them and explaining them would impress researchers and reviewers more than disregarding them. 

Remember that acknowledging a research’s shortcomings offers a chance to provide ideas for future research, but be careful to describe how your study may help to concentrate on these outstanding problems.

Possible limitations examples

Here are some limitations connected to methodology and the research procedure that you may need to explain and discuss in connection to your findings.

Methodological limitations

Sample size.

The number of units of analysis used in your study is determined by the sort of research issue being investigated. It is important to note that if your sample is too small, finding significant connections in the data will be challenging, as statistical tests typically require a larger sample size to ensure a fair representation and this can be limiting. 

Lack of available or reliable data

A lack of data or trustworthy data will almost certainly necessitate limiting the scope of your research or the size of your sample, or it can be a substantial impediment to identifying a pattern and a relevant connection.

Lack of prior research on the subject

Citing previous research papers forms the basis of your literature review and aids in comprehending the research subject you are researching. Yet there may be little if any, past research on your issue.

The measure used to collect data

After finishing your analysis of the findings, you realize that the method you used to collect data limited your capacity to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the findings. Recognize the flaw by mentioning that future researchers should change the specific approach for data collection.

Issues with research samples and selection

Sampling inaccuracies arise when a probability sampling method is employed to choose a sample, but that sample does not accurately represent the overall population or the relevant group. As a result, your study suffers from “sampling bias” or “selection bias.”

Limitations of the research

When your research requires polling certain persons or a specific group, you may have encountered the issue of limited access to these interviewees. Because of the limited access, you may need to reorganize or rearrange your research. In this scenario, explain why access is restricted and ensure that your findings are still trustworthy and valid despite the constraint.

Time constraints

Practical difficulties may limit the amount of time available to explore a research issue and monitor changes as they occur. If time restrictions have any detrimental influence on your research, recognize this impact by expressing the necessity for a future investigation.

Due to their cultural origins or opinions on observed events, researchers may carry biased opinions, which can influence the credibility of a research. Furthermore, researchers may exhibit biases toward data and conclusions that only support their hypotheses or arguments.

The structure of the limitations section 

The limitations of your research are usually stated at the beginning of the discussion section of your paper so that the reader is aware of and comprehends the limitations prior to actually reading the rest of your findings, or they are stated at the end of the discussion section as an acknowledgment of the need for further research.

The ideal way is to divide your limitations section into three steps: 

1. Identify the research constraints; 

2. Describe in great detail how they affect your research; 

3. Mention the opportunity for future investigations and give possibilities. 

By following this method while addressing the constraints of your research, you will be able to effectively highlight your research’s shortcomings without jeopardizing the quality and integrity of your research.

Present your research or paper in an innovative way

If you want your readers to be engaged and participate in your research, try Mind The Graph tool to add visual assets to your content. Infographics may improve comprehension and are easy to read, just as the Mind The Graph tool is simple to use and offers a variety of templates from which you can select the one that best suits your information.

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About Jessica Abbadia

Jessica Abbadia is a lawyer that has been working in Digital Marketing since 2020, improving organic performance for apps and websites in various regions through ASO and SEO. Currently developing scientific and intellectual knowledge for the community's benefit. Jessica is an animal rights activist who enjoys reading and drinking strong coffee.

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21 Research Limitations Examples

Research limitations refer to the potential weaknesses inherent in a study. All studies have limitations of some sort, meaning declaring limitations doesn’t necessarily need to be a bad thing, so long as your declaration of limitations is well thought-out and explained.

Rarely is a study perfect. Researchers have to make trade-offs when developing their studies, which are often based upon practical considerations such as time and monetary constraints, weighing the breadth of participants against the depth of insight, and choosing one methodology or another.

In research, studies can have limitations such as limited scope, researcher subjectivity, and lack of available research tools.

Acknowledging the limitations of your study should be seen as a strength. It demonstrates your willingness for transparency, humility, and submission to the scientific method and can bolster the integrity of the study. It can also inform future research direction.

Typically, scholars will explore the limitations of their study in either their methodology section, their conclusion section, or both.

Research Limitations Examples

Qualitative and quantitative research offer different perspectives and methods in exploring phenomena, each with its own strengths and limitations. So, I’ve split the limitations examples sections into qualitative and quantitative below.

Qualitative Research Limitations

Qualitative research seeks to understand phenomena in-depth and in context. It focuses on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions.

It’s often used to explore new or complex issues, and it provides rich, detailed insights into participants’ experiences, behaviors, and attitudes. However, these strengths also create certain limitations, as explained below.

1. Subjectivity

Qualitative research often requires the researcher to interpret subjective data. One researcher may examine a text and identify different themes or concepts as more dominant than others.

Close qualitative readings of texts are necessarily subjective – and while this may be a limitation, qualitative researchers argue this is the best way to deeply understand everything in context.

Suggested Solution and Response: To minimize subjectivity bias, you could consider cross-checking your own readings of themes and data against other scholars’ readings and interpretations. This may involve giving the raw data to a supervisor or colleague and asking them to code the data separately, then coming together to compare and contrast results.

2. Researcher Bias

The concept of researcher bias is related to, but slightly different from, subjectivity.

Researcher bias refers to the perspectives and opinions you bring with you when doing your research.

For example, a researcher who is explicitly of a certain philosophical or political persuasion may bring that persuasion to bear when interpreting data.

In many scholarly traditions, we will attempt to minimize researcher bias through the utilization of clear procedures that are set out in advance or through the use of statistical analysis tools.

However, in other traditions, such as in postmodern feminist research , declaration of bias is expected, and acknowledgment of bias is seen as a positive because, in those traditions, it is believed that bias cannot be eliminated from research, so instead, it is a matter of integrity to present it upfront.

Suggested Solution and Response: Acknowledge the potential for researcher bias and, depending on your theoretical framework , accept this, or identify procedures you have taken to seek a closer approximation to objectivity in your coding and analysis.

3. Generalizability

If you’re struggling to find a limitation to discuss in your own qualitative research study, then this one is for you: all qualitative research, of all persuasions and perspectives, cannot be generalized.

This is a core feature that sets qualitative data and quantitative data apart.

The point of qualitative data is to select case studies and similarly small corpora and dig deep through in-depth analysis and thick description of data.

Often, this will also mean that you have a non-randomized sample size.

While this is a positive – you’re going to get some really deep, contextualized, interesting insights – it also means that the findings may not be generalizable to a larger population that may not be representative of the small group of people in your study.

Suggested Solution and Response: Suggest future studies that take a quantitative approach to the question.

4. The Hawthorne Effect

The Hawthorne effect refers to the phenomenon where research participants change their ‘observed behavior’ when they’re aware that they are being observed.

This effect was first identified by Elton Mayo who conducted studies of the effects of various factors ton workers’ productivity. He noticed that no matter what he did – turning up the lights, turning down the lights, etc. – there was an increase in worker outputs compared to prior to the study taking place.

Mayo realized that the mere act of observing the workers made them work harder – his observation was what was changing behavior.

So, if you’re looking for a potential limitation to name for your observational research study , highlight the possible impact of the Hawthorne effect (and how you could reduce your footprint or visibility in order to decrease its likelihood).

Suggested Solution and Response: Highlight ways you have attempted to reduce your footprint while in the field, and guarantee anonymity to your research participants.

5. Replicability

Quantitative research has a great benefit in that the studies are replicable – a researcher can get a similar sample size, duplicate the variables, and re-test a study. But you can’t do that in qualitative research.

Qualitative research relies heavily on context – a specific case study or specific variables that make a certain instance worthy of analysis. As a result, it’s often difficult to re-enter the same setting with the same variables and repeat the study.

Furthermore, the individual researcher’s interpretation is more influential in qualitative research, meaning even if a new researcher enters an environment and makes observations, their observations may be different because subjectivity comes into play much more. This doesn’t make the research bad necessarily (great insights can be made in qualitative research), but it certainly does demonstrate a weakness of qualitative research.

6. Limited Scope

“Limited scope” is perhaps one of the most common limitations listed by researchers – and while this is often a catch-all way of saying, “well, I’m not studying that in this study”, it’s also a valid point.

No study can explore everything related to a topic. At some point, we have to make decisions about what’s included in the study and what is excluded from the study.

So, you could say that a limitation of your study is that it doesn’t look at an extra variable or concept that’s certainly worthy of study but will have to be explored in your next project because this project has a clearly and narrowly defined goal.

Suggested Solution and Response: Be clear about what’s in and out of the study when writing your research question.

7. Time Constraints

This is also a catch-all claim you can make about your research project: that you would have included more people in the study, looked at more variables, and so on. But you’ve got to submit this thing by the end of next semester! You’ve got time constraints.

And time constraints are a recognized reality in all research.

But this means you’ll need to explain how time has limited your decisions. As with “limited scope”, this may mean that you had to study a smaller group of subjects, limit the amount of time you spent in the field, and so forth.

Suggested Solution and Response: Suggest future studies that will build on your current work, possibly as a PhD project.

8. Resource Intensiveness

Qualitative research can be expensive due to the cost of transcription, the involvement of trained researchers, and potential travel for interviews or observations.

So, resource intensiveness is similar to the time constraints concept. If you don’t have the funds, you have to make decisions about which tools to use, which statistical software to employ, and how many research assistants you can dedicate to the study.

Suggested Solution and Response: Suggest future studies that will gain more funding on the back of this ‘ exploratory study ‘.

9. Coding Difficulties

Data analysis in qualitative research often involves coding, which can be subjective and complex, especially when dealing with ambiguous or contradicting data.

After naming this as a limitation in your research, it’s important to explain how you’ve attempted to address this. Some ways to ‘limit the limitation’ include:

• Triangulation: Have 2 other researchers code the data as well and cross-check your results with theirs to identify outliers that may need to be re-examined, debated with the other researchers, or removed altogether.
• Procedure: Use a clear coding procedure to demonstrate reliability in your coding process. I personally use the thematic network analysis method outlined in this academic article by Attride-Stirling (2001).

Suggested Solution and Response: Triangulate your coding findings with colleagues, and follow a thematic network analysis procedure.

10. Risk of Non-Responsiveness

There is always a risk in research that research participants will be unwilling or uncomfortable sharing their genuine thoughts and feelings in the study.

This is particularly true when you’re conducting research on sensitive topics, politicized topics, or topics where the participant is expressing vulnerability .

This is similar to the Hawthorne effect (aka participant bias), where participants change their behaviors in your presence; but it goes a step further, where participants actively hide their true thoughts and feelings from you.

Suggested Solution and Response: One way to manage this is to try to include a wider group of people with the expectation that there will be non-responsiveness from some participants.

11. Risk of Attrition

Attrition refers to the process of losing research participants throughout the study.

This occurs most commonly in longitudinal studies , where a researcher must return to conduct their analysis over spaced periods of time, often over a period of years.

Things happen to people over time – they move overseas, their life experiences change, they get sick, change their minds, and even die. The more time that passes, the greater the risk of attrition.

Suggested Solution and Response: One way to manage this is to try to include a wider group of people with the expectation that there will be attrition over time.

12. Difficulty in Maintaining Confidentiality and Anonymity

Given the detailed nature of qualitative data , ensuring participant anonymity can be challenging.

If you have a sensitive topic in a specific case study, even anonymizing research participants sometimes isn’t enough. People might be able to induce who you’re talking about.

Sometimes, this will mean you have to exclude some interesting data that you collected from your final report. Confidentiality and anonymity come before your findings in research ethics – and this is a necessary limiting factor.

Suggested Solution and Response: Highlight the efforts you have taken to anonymize data, and accept that confidentiality and accountability place extremely important constraints on academic research.

13. Difficulty in Finding Research Participants

A study that looks at a very specific phenomenon or even a specific set of cases within a phenomenon means that the pool of potential research participants can be very low.

Compile on top of this the fact that many people you approach may choose not to participate, and you could end up with a very small corpus of subjects to explore. This may limit your ability to make complete findings, even in a quantitative sense.

You may need to therefore limit your research question and objectives to something more realistic.

Suggested Solution and Response: Highlight that this is going to limit the study’s generalizability significantly.

14. Ethical Limitations

Ethical limitations refer to the things you cannot do based on ethical concerns identified either by yourself or your institution’s ethics review board.

This might include threats to the physical or psychological well-being of your research subjects, the potential of releasing data that could harm a person’s reputation, and so on.

Furthermore, even if your study follows all expected standards of ethics, you still, as an ethical researcher, need to allow a research participant to pull out at any point in time, after which you cannot use their data, which demonstrates an overlap between ethical constraints and participant attrition.

Suggested Solution and Response: Highlight that these ethical limitations are inevitable but important to sustain the integrity of the research.

For more on Qualitative Research, Explore my Qualitative Research Guide

Quantitative Research Limitations

Quantitative research focuses on quantifiable data and statistical, mathematical, or computational techniques. It’s often used to test hypotheses, assess relationships and causality, and generalize findings across larger populations.

Quantitative research is widely respected for its ability to provide reliable, measurable, and generalizable data (if done well!). Its structured methodology has strengths over qualitative research, such as the fact it allows for replication of the study, which underpins the validity of the research.

However, this approach is not without it limitations, explained below.

1. Over-Simplification

Quantitative research is powerful because it allows you to measure and analyze data in a systematic and standardized way. However, one of its limitations is that it can sometimes simplify complex phenomena or situations.

In other words, it might miss the subtleties or nuances of the research subject.

For example, if you’re studying why people choose a particular diet, a quantitative study might identify factors like age, income, or health status. But it might miss other aspects, such as cultural influences or personal beliefs, that can also significantly impact dietary choices.

When writing about this limitation, you can say that your quantitative approach, while providing precise measurements and comparisons, may not capture the full complexity of your subjects of study.

Suggested Solution and Response: Suggest a follow-up case study using the same research participants in order to gain additional context and depth.

2. Lack of Context

Another potential issue with quantitative research is that it often focuses on numbers and statistics at the expense of context or qualitative information.

Let’s say you’re studying the effect of classroom size on student performance. You might find that students in smaller classes generally perform better. However, this doesn’t take into account other variables, like teaching style , student motivation, or family support.

When describing this limitation, you might say, “Although our research provides important insights into the relationship between class size and student performance, it does not incorporate the impact of other potentially influential variables. Future research could benefit from a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative analysis with qualitative insights.”

3. Applicability to Real-World Settings

Oftentimes, experimental research takes place in controlled environments to limit the influence of outside factors.

This control is great for isolation and understanding the specific phenomenon but can limit the applicability or “external validity” of the research to real-world settings.

For example, if you conduct a lab experiment to see how sleep deprivation impacts cognitive performance, the sterile, controlled lab environment might not reflect real-world conditions where people are dealing with multiple stressors.

Therefore, when explaining the limitations of your quantitative study in your methodology section, you could state:

“While our findings provide valuable information about [topic], the controlled conditions of the experiment may not accurately represent real-world scenarios where extraneous variables will exist. As such, the direct applicability of our results to broader contexts may be limited.”

Suggested Solution and Response: Suggest future studies that will engage in real-world observational research, such as ethnographic research.

4. Limited Flexibility

Once a quantitative study is underway, it can be challenging to make changes to it. This is because, unlike in grounded research, you’re putting in place your study in advance, and you can’t make changes part-way through.

Your study design, data collection methods, and analysis techniques need to be decided upon before you start collecting data.

For example, if you are conducting a survey on the impact of social media on teenage mental health, and halfway through, you realize that you should have included a question about their screen time, it’s generally too late to add it.

When discussing this limitation, you could write something like, “The structured nature of our quantitative approach allows for consistent data collection and analysis but also limits our flexibility to adapt and modify the research process in response to emerging insights and ideas.”

Suggested Solution and Response: Suggest future studies that will use mixed-methods or qualitative research methods to gain additional depth of insight.

5. Risk of Survey Error

Surveys are a common tool in quantitative research, but they carry risks of error.

There can be measurement errors (if a question is misunderstood), coverage errors (if some groups aren’t adequately represented), non-response errors (if certain people don’t respond), and sampling errors (if your sample isn’t representative of the population).

For instance, if you’re surveying college students about their study habits , but only daytime students respond because you conduct the survey during the day, your results will be skewed.

In discussing this limitation, you might say, “Despite our best efforts to develop a comprehensive survey, there remains a risk of survey error, including measurement, coverage, non-response, and sampling errors. These could potentially impact the reliability and generalizability of our findings.”

Suggested Solution and Response: Suggest future studies that will use other survey tools to compare and contrast results.

6. Limited Ability to Probe Answers

With quantitative research, you typically can’t ask follow-up questions or delve deeper into participants’ responses like you could in a qualitative interview.

For instance, imagine you are surveying 500 students about study habits in a questionnaire. A respondent might indicate that they study for two hours each night. You might want to follow up by asking them to elaborate on what those study sessions involve or how effective they feel their habits are.

However, quantitative research generally disallows this in the way a qualitative semi-structured interview could.

When discussing this limitation, you might write, “Given the structured nature of our survey, our ability to probe deeper into individual responses is limited. This means we may not fully understand the context or reasoning behind the responses, potentially limiting the depth of our findings.”

Suggested Solution and Response: Suggest future studies that engage in mixed-method or qualitative methodologies to address the issue from another angle.

7. Reliance on Instruments for Data Collection

In quantitative research, the collection of data heavily relies on instruments like questionnaires, surveys, or machines.

The limitation here is that the data you get is only as good as the instrument you’re using. If the instrument isn’t designed or calibrated well, your data can be flawed.

For instance, if you’re using a questionnaire to study customer satisfaction and the questions are vague, confusing, or biased, the responses may not accurately reflect the customers’ true feelings.

When discussing this limitation, you could say, “Our study depends on the use of questionnaires for data collection. Although we have put significant effort into designing and testing the instrument, it’s possible that inaccuracies or misunderstandings could potentially affect the validity of the data collected.”

Suggested Solution and Response: Suggest future studies that will use different instruments but examine the same variables to triangulate results.

8. Time and Resource Constraints (Specific to Quantitative Research)

Quantitative research can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, especially when dealing with large samples.

It often involves systematic sampling, rigorous design, and sometimes complex statistical analysis.

If resources and time are limited, it can restrict the scale of your research, the techniques you can employ, or the extent of your data analysis.

For example, you may want to conduct a nationwide survey on public opinion about a certain policy. However, due to limited resources, you might only be able to survey people in one city.

When writing about this limitation, you could say, “Given the scope of our research and the resources available, we are limited to conducting our survey within one city, which may not fully represent the nationwide public opinion. Hence, the generalizability of the results may be limited.”

Suggested Solution and Response: Suggest future studies that will have more funding or longer timeframes.

How to Discuss Your Research Limitations

1. in your research proposal and methodology section.

In the research proposal, which will become the methodology section of your dissertation, I would recommend taking the four following steps, in order:

• Be Explicit about your Scope – If you limit the scope of your study in your research question, aims, and objectives, then you can set yourself up well later in the methodology to say that certain questions are “outside the scope of the study.” For example, you may identify the fact that the study doesn’t address a certain variable, but you can follow up by stating that the research question is specifically focused on the variable that you are examining, so this limitation would need to be looked at in future studies.
• Acknowledge the Limitation – Acknowledging the limitations of your study demonstrates reflexivity and humility and can make your research more reliable and valid. It also pre-empts questions the people grading your paper may have, so instead of them down-grading you for your limitations; they will congratulate you on explaining the limitations and how you have addressed them!
• Explain your Decisions – You may have chosen your approach (despite its limitations) for a very specific reason. This might be because your approach remains, on balance, the best one to answer your research question. Or, it might be because of time and monetary constraints that are outside of your control.
• Highlight the Strengths of your Approach – Conclude your limitations section by strongly demonstrating that, despite limitations, you’ve worked hard to minimize the effects of the limitations and that you have chosen your specific approach and methodology because it’s also got some terrific strengths. Name the strengths.

Overall, you’ll want to acknowledge your own limitations but also explain that the limitations don’t detract from the value of your study as it stands.

2. In the Conclusion Section or Chapter

In the conclusion of your study, it is generally expected that you return to a discussion of the study’s limitations. Here, I recommend the following steps:

• Acknowledge issues faced – After completing your study, you will be increasingly aware of issues you may have faced that, if you re-did the study, you may have addressed earlier in order to avoid those issues. Acknowledge these issues as limitations, and frame them as recommendations for subsequent studies.
• Suggest further research – Scholarly research aims to fill gaps in the current literature and knowledge. Having established your expertise through your study, suggest lines of inquiry for future researchers. You could state that your study had certain limitations, and “future studies” can address those limitations.
• Suggest a mixed methods approach – Qualitative and quantitative research each have pros and cons. So, note those ‘cons’ of your approach, then say the next study should approach the topic using the opposite methodology or could approach it using a mixed-methods approach that could achieve the benefits of quantitative studies with the nuanced insights of associated qualitative insights as part of an in-study case-study.

Overall, be clear about both your limitations and how those limitations can inform future studies.

In sum, each type of research method has its own strengths and limitations. Qualitative research excels in exploring depth, context, and complexity, while quantitative research excels in examining breadth, generalizability, and quantifiable measures. Despite their individual limitations, each method contributes unique and valuable insights, and researchers often use them together to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon being studied.

Attride-Stirling, J. (2001). Thematic networks: an analytic tool for qualitative research. Qualitative research , 1 (3), 385-405. ( Source )

Atkinson, P., Delamont, S., Cernat, A., Sakshaug, J., & Williams, R. A. (2021).  SAGE research methods foundations . London: Sage Publications.

Clark, T., Foster, L., Bryman, A., & Sloan, L. (2021).  Bryman’s social research methods . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Köhler, T., Smith, A., & Bhakoo, V. (2022). Templates in qualitative research methods: Origins, limitations, and new directions.  Organizational Research Methods ,  25 (2), 183-210. ( Source )

Lenger, A. (2019). The rejection of qualitative research methods in economics.  Journal of Economic Issues ,  53 (4), 946-965. ( Source )

Taherdoost, H. (2022). What are different research approaches? Comprehensive review of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method research, their applications, types, and limitations.  Journal of Management Science & Engineering Research ,  5 (1), 53-63. ( Source )

Walliman, N. (2021).  Research methods: The basics . New York: Routledge.

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ Social-Emotional Learning (Definition, Examples, Pros & Cons)
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Writing Limitations of Research Study — 4 Reasons Why It Is Important!

It is not unusual for researchers to come across the term limitations of research during their academic paper writing. More often this is interpreted as something terrible. However, when it comes to research study, limitations can help structure the research study better. Therefore, do not underestimate significance of limitations of research study.

Allow us to take you through the context of how to evaluate the limits of your research and conclude an impactful relevance to your results.

Table of Contents

What Are the Limitations of a Research Study?

Every research has its limit and these limitations arise due to restrictions in methodology or research design.  This could impact your entire research or the research paper you wish to publish. Unfortunately, most researchers choose not to discuss their limitations of research fearing it will affect the value of their article in the eyes of readers.

However, it is very important to discuss your study limitations and show it to your target audience (other researchers, journal editors, peer reviewers etc.). It is very important that you provide an explanation of how your research limitations may affect the conclusions and opinions drawn from your research. Moreover, when as an author you state the limitations of research, it shows that you have investigated all the weaknesses of your study and have a deep understanding of the subject. Being honest could impress your readers and mark your study as a sincere effort in research.

Why and Where Should You Include the Research Limitations?

The main goal of your research is to address your research objectives. Conduct experiments, get results and explain those results, and finally justify your research question . It is best to mention the limitations of research in the discussion paragraph of your research article.

At the very beginning of this paragraph, immediately after highlighting the strengths of the research methodology, you should write down your limitations. You can discuss specific points from your research limitations as suggestions for further research in the conclusion of your thesis.

1. Common Limitations of the Researchers

Limitations that are related to the researcher must be mentioned. This will help you gain transparency with your readers. Furthermore, you could provide suggestions on decreasing these limitations in you and your future studies.

2. Limited Access to Information

Your work may involve some institutions and individuals in research, and sometimes you may have problems accessing these institutions. Therefore, you need to redesign and rewrite your work. You must explain your readers the reason for limited access.

3. Limited Time

All researchers are bound by their deadlines when it comes to completing their studies. Sometimes, time constraints can affect your research negatively. However, the best practice is to acknowledge it and mention a requirement for future study to solve the research problem in a better way.

4. Conflict over Biased Views and Personal Issues

Biased views can affect the research. In fact, researchers end up choosing only those results and data that support their main argument, keeping aside the other loose ends of the research.

Types of Limitations of Research

Before beginning your research study, know that there are certain limitations to what you are testing or possible research results. There are different types that researchers may encounter, and they all have unique characteristics, such as:

1. Research Design Limitations

Certain restrictions on your research or available procedures may affect your final results or research outputs. You may have formulated research goals and objectives too broadly. However, this can help you understand how you can narrow down the formulation of research goals and objectives, thereby increasing the focus of your study.

2. Impact Limitations

Even if your research has excellent statistics and a strong design, it can suffer from the influence of the following factors:

• Presence of increasing findings as researched
• Being population specific
• A strong regional focus.

3. Data or statistical limitations

In some cases, it is impossible to collect sufficient data for research or very difficult to get access to the data. This could lead to incomplete conclusion to your study. Moreover, this insufficiency in data could be the outcome of your study design. The unclear, shabby research outline could produce more problems in interpreting your findings.

How to Correctly Structure Your Research Limitations?

There are strict guidelines for narrowing down research questions, wherein you could justify and explain potential weaknesses of your academic paper. You could go through these basic steps to get a well-structured clarity of research limitations:

• Declare that you wish to identify your limitations of research and explain their importance,
• Provide the necessary depth, explain their nature, and justify your study choices.
• Write how you are suggesting that it is possible to overcome them in the future.

In this section, your readers will see that you are aware of the potential weaknesses in your business, understand them and offer effective solutions, and it will positively strengthen your article as you clarify all limitations of research to your target audience.

Know that you cannot be perfect and there is no individual without flaws. You could use the limitations of research as a great opportunity to take on a new challenge and improve the future of research. In a typical academic paper, research limitations may relate to:

1. Formulating your goals and objectives

If you formulate goals and objectives too broadly, your work will have some shortcomings. In this case, specify effective methods or ways to narrow down the formula of goals and aim to increase your level of study focus.

2. Application of your data collection methods in research

If you do not have experience in primary data collection, there is a risk that there will be flaws in the implementation of your methods. It is necessary to accept this, and learn and educate yourself to understand data collection methods.

3. Sample sizes

This depends on the nature of problem you choose. Sample size is of a greater importance in quantitative studies as opposed to qualitative ones. If your sample size is too small, statistical tests cannot identify significant relationships or connections within a given data set.

You could point out that other researchers should base the same study on a larger sample size to get more accurate results.

4. The absence of previous studies in the field you have chosen

Writing a literature review is an important step in any scientific study because it helps researchers determine the scope of current work in the chosen field. It is a major foundation for any researcher who must use them to achieve a set of specific goals or objectives.

However, if you are focused on the most current and evolving research problem or a very narrow research problem, there may be very little prior research on your topic. For example, if you chose to explore the role of Bitcoin as the currency of the future, you may not find tons of scientific papers addressing the research problem as Bitcoins are only a new phenomenon.

It is important that you learn to identify research limitations examples at each step. Whatever field you choose, feel free to add the shortcoming of your work. This is mainly because you do not have many years of experience writing scientific papers or completing complex work. Therefore, the depth and scope of your discussions may be compromised at different levels compared to academics with a lot of expertise. Include specific points from limitations of research. Use them as suggestions for the future.

Have you ever faced a challenge of writing the limitations of research study in your paper? How did you overcome it? What ways did you follow? Were they beneficial? Let us know in the comments below!

Frequently Asked Questions

Setting limitations in our study helps to clarify the outcomes drawn from our research and enhance understanding of the subject. Moreover, it shows that the author has investigated all the weaknesses in the study.

Scope is the range and limitations of a research project which are set to define the boundaries of a project. Limitations are the impacts on the overall study due to the constraints on the research design.

Limitation in research is an impact of a constraint on the research design in the overall study. They are the flaws or weaknesses in the study, which may influence the outcome of the research.

1. Limitations in research can be written as follows: Formulate your goals and objectives 2. Analyze the chosen data collection method and the sample sizes 3. Identify your limitations of research and explain their importance 4. Provide the necessary depth, explain their nature, and justify your study choices 5. Write how you are suggesting that it is possible to overcome them in the future

Excellent article ,,,it has helped me big

This is very helpful information. It has given me an insight on how to go about my study limitations.

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How to Present the Limitations of the Study Examples

What are the limitations of a study?

The limitations of a study are the elements of methodology or study design that impact the interpretation of your research results. The limitations essentially detail any flaws or shortcomings in your study. Study limitations can exist due to constraints on research design, methodology, materials, etc., and these factors may impact the findings of your study. However, researchers are often reluctant to discuss the limitations of their study in their papers, feeling that bringing up limitations may undermine its research value in the eyes of readers and reviewers.

In spite of the impact it might have (and perhaps because of it) you should clearly acknowledge any limitations in your research paper in order to show readers—whether journal editors, other researchers, or the general public—that you are aware of these limitations and to explain how they affect the conclusions that can be drawn from the research.

In this article, we provide some guidelines for writing about research limitations, show examples of some frequently seen study limitations, and recommend techniques for presenting this information. And after you have finished drafting and have received manuscript editing for your work, you still might want to follow this up with academic editing before submitting your work to your target journal.

Why do I need to include limitations of research in my paper?

Although limitations address the potential weaknesses of a study, writing about them toward the end of your paper actually strengthens your study by identifying any problems before other researchers or reviewers find them.

Furthermore, pointing out study limitations shows that you’ve considered the impact of research weakness thoroughly and have an in-depth understanding of your research topic. Since all studies face limitations, being honest and detailing these limitations will impress researchers and reviewers more than ignoring them.

Where should I put the limitations of the study in my paper?

Some limitations might be evident to researchers before the start of the study, while others might become clear while you are conducting the research. Whether these limitations are anticipated or not, and whether they are due to research design or to methodology, they should be clearly identified and discussed in the discussion section —the final section of your paper. Most journals now require you to include a discussion of potential limitations of your work, and many journals now ask you to place this “limitations section” at the very end of your article. 

Some journals ask you to also discuss the strengths of your work in this section, and some allow you to freely choose where to include that information in your discussion section—make sure to always check the author instructions of your target journal before you finalize a manuscript and submit it for peer review .

Limitations of the Study Examples

There are several reasons why limitations of research might exist. The two main categories of limitations are those that result from the methodology and those that result from issues with the researcher(s).

Common Methodological Limitations of Studies

Limitations of research due to methodological problems can be addressed by clearly and directly identifying the potential problem and suggesting ways in which this could have been addressed—and SHOULD be addressed in future studies. The following are some major potential methodological issues that can impact the conclusions researchers can draw from the research.

Issues with research samples and selection

Sampling errors occur when a probability sampling method is used to select a sample, but that sample does not reflect the general population or appropriate population concerned. This results in limitations of your study known as “sample bias” or “selection bias.”

For example, if you conducted a survey to obtain your research results, your samples (participants) were asked to respond to the survey questions. However, you might have had limited ability to gain access to the appropriate type or geographic scope of participants. In this case, the people who responded to your survey questions may not truly be a random sample.

Insufficient sample size for statistical measurements

When conducting a study, it is important to have a sufficient sample size in order to draw valid conclusions. The larger the sample, the more precise your results will be. If your sample size is too small, it will be difficult to identify significant relationships in the data.

Normally, statistical tests require a larger sample size to ensure that the sample is considered representative of a population and that the statistical result can be generalized to a larger population. It is a good idea to understand how to choose an appropriate sample size before you conduct your research by using scientific calculation tools—in fact, many journals now require such estimation to be included in every manuscript that is sent out for review.

Lack of previous research studies on the topic

Citing and referencing prior research studies constitutes the basis of the literature review for your thesis or study, and these prior studies provide the theoretical foundations for the research question you are investigating. However, depending on the scope of your research topic, prior research studies that are relevant to your thesis might be limited.

When there is very little or no prior research on a specific topic, you may need to develop an entirely new research typology. In this case, discovering a limitation can be considered an important opportunity to identify literature gaps and to present the need for further development in the area of study.

Methods/instruments/techniques used to collect the data

After you complete your analysis of the research findings (in the discussion section), you might realize that the manner in which you have collected the data or the ways in which you have measured variables has limited your ability to conduct a thorough analysis of the results.

For example, you might realize that you should have addressed your survey questions from another viable perspective, or that you were not able to include an important question in the survey. In these cases, you should acknowledge the deficiency or deficiencies by stating a need for future researchers to revise their specific methods for collecting data that includes these missing elements.

Common Limitations of the Researcher(s)

Study limitations that arise from situations relating to the researcher or researchers (whether the direct fault of the individuals or not) should also be addressed and dealt with, and remedies to decrease these limitations—both hypothetically in your study, and practically in future studies—should be proposed.

Limited access to data

If your research involved surveying certain people or organizations, you might have faced the problem of having limited access to these respondents. Due to this limited access, you might need to redesign or restructure your research in a different way. In this case, explain the reasons for limited access and be sure that your finding is still reliable and valid despite this limitation.

Time constraints

Just as students have deadlines to turn in their class papers, academic researchers might also have to meet deadlines for submitting a manuscript to a journal or face other time constraints related to their research (e.g., participants are only available during a certain period; funding runs out; collaborators move to a new institution). The time available to study a research problem and to measure change over time might be constrained by such practical issues. If time constraints negatively impacted your study in any way, acknowledge this impact by mentioning a need for a future study (e.g., a longitudinal study) to answer this research problem.

Conflicts arising from cultural bias and other personal issues

Researchers might hold biased views due to their cultural backgrounds or perspectives of certain phenomena, and this can affect a study’s legitimacy. Also, it is possible that researchers will have biases toward data and results that only support their hypotheses or arguments. In order to avoid these problems, the author(s) of a study should examine whether the way the research problem was stated and the data-gathering process was carried out appropriately.

Steps for Organizing Your Study Limitations Section

When you discuss the limitations of your study, don’t simply list and describe your limitations—explain how these limitations have influenced your research findings. There might be multiple limitations in your study, but you only need to point out and explain those that directly relate to and impact how you address your research questions.

We suggest that you divide your limitations section into three steps: (1) identify the study limitations; (2) explain how they impact your study in detail; and (3) propose a direction for future studies and present alternatives. By following this sequence when discussing your study’s limitations, you will be able to clearly demonstrate your study’s weakness without undermining the quality and integrity of your research.

Step 1. Identify the limitation(s) of the study

• This part should comprise around 10%-20% of your discussion of study limitations.

The first step is to identify the particular limitation(s) that affected your study. There are many possible limitations of research that can affect your study, but you don’t need to write a long review of all possible study limitations. A 200-500 word critique is an appropriate length for a research limitations section. In the beginning of this section, identify what limitations your study has faced and how important these limitations are.

You only need to identify limitations that had the greatest potential impact on: (1) the quality of your findings, and (2) your ability to answer your research question.

Step 2. Explain these study limitations in detail

• This part should comprise around 60-70% of your discussion of limitations.

After identifying your research limitations, it’s time to explain the nature of the limitations and how they potentially impacted your study. For example, when you conduct quantitative research, a lack of probability sampling is an important issue that you should mention. On the other hand, when you conduct qualitative research, the inability to generalize the research findings could be an issue that deserves mention.

Explain the role these limitations played on the results and implications of the research and justify the choice you made in using this “limiting” methodology or other action in your research. Also, make sure that these limitations didn’t undermine the quality of your dissertation .

Step 3. Propose a direction for future studies and present alternatives (optional)

• This part should comprise around 10-20% of your discussion of limitations.

After acknowledging the limitations of the research, you need to discuss some possible ways to overcome these limitations in future studies. One way to do this is to present alternative methodologies and ways to avoid issues with, or “fill in the gaps of” the limitations of this study you have presented.  Discuss both the pros and cons of these alternatives and clearly explain why researchers should choose these approaches.

Make sure you are current on approaches used by prior studies and the impacts they have had on their findings. Cite review articles or scientific bodies that have recommended these approaches and why. This might be evidence in support of the approach you chose, or it might be the reason you consider your choices to be included as limitations. This process can act as a justification for your approach and a defense of your decision to take it while acknowledging the feasibility of other approaches.

P hrases and Tips for Introducing Your Study Limitations in the Discussion Section

The following phrases are frequently used to introduce the limitations of the study:

• “There may be some possible limitations in this study.”
• “The findings of this study have to be seen in light of some limitations.”
•  “The first is the…The second limitation concerns the…”
•  “The empirical results reported herein should be considered in the light of some limitations.”
• “This research, however, is subject to several limitations.”
• “The primary limitation to the generalization of these results is…”
• “Nonetheless, these results must be interpreted with caution and a number of limitations should be borne in mind.”
• “As with the majority of studies, the design of the current study is subject to limitations.”
• “There are two major limitations in this study that could be addressed in future research. First, the study focused on …. Second ….”

For more articles on research writing and the journal submissions and publication process, visit Wordvice’s Academic Resources page.

And be sure to receive professional English editing and proofreading services , including paper editing services , for your journal manuscript before submitting it to journal editors.

Wordvice Resources

Proofreading & Editing Guide

Writing the Results Section for a Research Paper

How to Write a Literature Review

Research Writing Tips: How to Draft a Powerful Discussion Section

How to Captivate Journal Readers with a Strong Introduction

Tips That Will Make Your Abstract a Success!

APA In-Text Citation Guide for Research Writing

Additional Resources

• Diving Deeper into Limitations and Delimitations (PhD student)
• Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: Limitations of the Study (USC Library)
• Research Limitations (Research Methodology)
• How to Present Limitations and Alternatives (UMASS)

Article References

Pearson-Stuttard, J., Kypridemos, C., Collins, B., Mozaffarian, D., Huang, Y., Bandosz, P.,…Micha, R. (2018). Estimating the health and economic effects of the proposed US Food and Drug Administration voluntary sodium reformulation: Microsimulation cost-effectiveness analysis. PLOS. https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002551

Xu, W.L, Pedersen, N.L., Keller, L., Kalpouzos, G., Wang, H.X., Graff, C,. Fratiglioni, L. (2015). HHEX_23 AA Genotype Exacerbates Effect of Diabetes on Dementia and Alzheimer Disease: A Population-Based Longitudinal Study. PLOS. Retrieved from https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001853

Alternative Quality Management Systems for Highway Construction (2015)

Chapter: chapter 6: conclusions, limitations and future research.

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS and FUTURE RESEARCH 6.1 Conclusions Quality management systems in the United States transportation industry are evolving. Innovations in QAOs and other features of quality programs are being used by STAs across the country on projects with both traditional DBB delivery and alternative delivery methods. However, these alternative quality management systems are being applied on a project-by- project basis due to the lack of national guidance to promote standard approaches. For highway agencies, this lack of guidance is resulting in significant investment to develop individual programs and minimizing the ability to capture and utilize knowledge across agencies. For consulting engineers and contractors, this lack of guidance is resulting in significant investment in response to project solicitations which require unique QMSs for different agencies. The objective of this research was to address the needs for QMS guidance for evolving alternative project delivery methods. This research has provided guidance through the following accomplishments: • Documentation of practices as found in quality management literature, surveys and case studies; • Analysis of the benefits and challenges of the alternative QMS through rigorous and scientific case study means; • Identification and definition of five fundamental QAOs for highway design and construction projects; • Identification and definition of ten factors influencing the selection of a QAO for highway design and construction projects; • Development of a selection model for matching these systems to alternative project delivery methods; • Increasing industry understanding of the impacts that alternative QAOs have on highway design and construction projects; and • Providing agencies with a roadmap of changes to the baseline QMS to accommodate alternative delivery methods. The research defines the roles and responsibilities of all project stakeholders (agency, contractor, designer and consultants) in a clear and understandable manner. The research also describes each of the fundamental QAOs through a description of the stakeholder’s roles and responsibilities, and the applicable project delivery methods. The results provide a better understanding of the impact that a particular QAO has on a project. With this information, an 137

agency can better anticipate the consequences of using a particular QAO on the management of a highway project. 6.2 Challenges to Implementation The research team believes that the guidance in this research will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of overall project delivery and the end product. Continued advancement will take a willingness of STAs to implement alternative QMSs and measure their effectiveness. It has taken decades to establish the baseline QMS. It will take highly motivated individuals and champions of change before the industry can truly realize the impacts of these advances. The challenges of implementing alternative QMS processes are similar any process changes in large public or private organizations. State highway agencies must consider several challenges when deploying this research. Challenging the status quo and creating a cultural change requires leadership and mentoring to ensure that alternative QMSs are thoughtfully applied. The dedication of sufficient time to changing agency attitudes toward incorporating alternative QAOs and incremental changes to the baseline systems will be required. It will be necessary to assign champions within the organization to implement the models, methods and tools in this guidebook. These champions will need to educate their peers and serve as resources for implementation. 6.3 Limitations of the Research Due to the nature of the research questions and the limited use of alternative QMSs in the United States, this research was based on largely qualitative research methods. The survey conducted in this research did not, for the most part, yield statistically significant results. Rather, the survey led the team to a sample of diverse case studies from which to draw conclusions. While the case studies were rigorously conducted and validated, the results are limited by the case study sample size. As a result, the fundamental QAOs identified by the research are based on QAOs that currently exist in the industry. It is possible that additional QAOs not identified in this research may develop in the future as the industry becomes more comfortable with alternative project delivery methods and more comfortable with the contractor taking on more responsibility for quality. The development of additional fundamental QAOs implies that the industry is embracing not only alternative project delivery, project management and quality methods, but also developing relationships with contractors that are built up trust, the contractor’s expertise, and a willingness to shift more quality responsibility to the contractor. While there is historical data pertaining to material specifications and material quality in every SHA, there is a lack of data and consistent measures of quality assurance organizations within the industry. It can be speculated that the reason for this is the industry focus on “how to implement alternative quality systems” at this point, rather than evaluating the effectiveness of quality assurance organizations. The development of measures to assess the performance of QAOs is a topic for future research. The complexity of the topic was evident by a variety of conditions within the industry. This complexity created barriers for the research. For example, there is widespread inconsistent use 138

of quality terminology throughout the industry. The complexity of the topic has resulted in SHAs have differing opinions about the transfer of quality responsibility to the contracting community. Furthermore, during the structured interviews SHAs expressed a need for further guidance regarding quality on a highway project with shifting project roles and responsibilities. 6.4 Future Research The limitations of this research point towards topics to be addressed in the future. Quality management systems in the United States will continue to evolve. Quality management research should strive to lead this change. The following are a few areas for future research. • What levels of quality performance result from each QAO variation? • What additional tools are available to assist with incremental changes to the baseline systems? • Do the need and/or amount of agency staff reduce as the amount of quality responsibility shifts to the industry? • How can QAOs be assigned on a programmatic basis rather than a project-by-project basis? 139

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 212: Alternative Quality Management Systems for Highway Construction documents the research process, data collection and analysis used to develop NCHRP Report 808: Guidebook on Alternative Quality Management Systems for Highway Construction .

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Goodman SN, Gerson J. Mechanistic Evidence in Evidence-Based Medicine: A Conceptual Framework [Internet]. Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 2013 Jun.

Mechanistic Evidence in Evidence-Based Medicine: A Conceptual Framework [Internet].

Limitations and future research.

While we believe the framework provided to be the starting point for any discussions of the value of mechanistic knowledge, much remains to be done in the form of both further refinement and implementation. In terms of refinement, while the framework components themselves represent a minimally sufficient set of dimensions, the optimal set of component questions within each of these dimensions requires further work. The more specificity that is provided in the sub questions, the more operational the framework becomes, but also potentially the more limited.

More work must also be done on how best to quantitate or weigh the impact both within and between various dimensions. Because many of the inferences cannot fall back on randomization, the same kinds of evidential judgments used when assessing observational studies must be applied to many of these designs. Building such a quantitative network or chain of inferences is akin to building complex risk models, and the relevance of such techniques to this application should be explored. As shown in some of the examples provided, it is possible to roughly quantitate the evidential value of the entire drug development process; refining this for specific interventions or in nondrug applications, will require substantially more work, yet is clearly achievable.

Most of the ideas presented herein are already part of the conversation of translational medicine and device and drug development. However, putting these together in the form of an evidential framework and a statistically sound definition of evidence is conceptually new territory for most working on either side of the translational divide. Developing a clear expert consensus, as there has been for traditional hierarchies of evidence, will require substantially more work. In addition, producing more clarity in how different forms of evidence interact will require further interdisciplinary research in both foundations and application. Bodies of work that can be mined for such development include that of expert elicitation and multiple bias modeling.

The pilot examples of the use of the framework demonstrated both its potential strength and areas for further work. It was clear in both cases the framework could be applied qualitatively, and that such application could illuminate those domains in which the evidence made the relationship between the therapy and the outcome more or less likely. In both cases, we saw that a limited number of pathways, a well characterized pathophysiology, and a clearly delineated target within those pathways were key elements. However, how the various qualitative observations can be quantitatively assessed and the relative weights of various dimensions or algorithmic combination thereof, requires further work.

It is important to note that judgments and decisions similar to those required of this framework are made every day in the assessment of newly evolving technologies. Whether a drug should proceed to clinical testing, whether a particular patient subgroup is more or less likely to respond to a drug, or whether weak direct evidence is sufficient in the face of strong mechanistic evidence to make therapeutic decisions, and finally, whether RCT evidence applies to a particular individual are judgments made on the basis of linkages and generalizations that have their grounding in mechanistic reasoning. Medicine has long known that mechanistic reasoning has its limitations in predicting the behavior of complex systems, but on the other hand, it has also shown that few therapies could have been developed or applied to individuals without such reasoning. It is not possible for medicine to reject such reasoning as a formal source of medical evidence, challenging as it is to formally assess and quantitate such information. We see the framework provided herein is the beginning of that process.

• Cite this Page Goodman SN, Gerson J. Mechanistic Evidence in Evidence-Based Medicine: A Conceptual Framework [Internet]. Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 2013 Jun. Limitations and Future Research.
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• Published: 14 May 2024

Database comments on Telegram channels related to cryptocurrencies with sentiments

• Kia Jahanbin 1 ,
• Mohammad Ali Zare Chahooki 1 ,
• Mahdi Yazdian-Dehkordi 1 &
• Fereshte Rahmanian 2  

BMC Research Notes volume  17 , Article number:  135 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

Due to the limitations of Twitter, the expansion of Telegram channels, and the Telegram API’s easy use, Telegram comments have become prevalent. Telegram is one of the most popular social networks, unlike Twitter, which has no restrictions on sending messages, and experts can share their opinions and media. Some of these channels, managed by influencers of large companies, are very influential in the behavior of the market on various stocks, including cryptocurrencies. In this research, the opinion collection of 10 famous Telegram channels regarding the analysis of cryptocurrencies has been extracted. The sentiments of these opinions have been analyzed using the HDRB model. HDRB is a hybrid model of RoBERTa deep neural network, BiGRU, and attention layer used for sentiment analysis (SA). Analyzing the sentiments of these opinions is very important for understanding the future behavior of the market and managing the stock portfolio. The opinions of this dataset, published by experts in the field of cryptocurrencies, are precious, unlike the opinions that are extracted only by using the hashtag of the names of cryptocurrencies. On the other hand, the dataset related to cryptocurrencies, which has the opinions of experts and the polarity of their feelings, is very rare.

Data description

The dataset of this research is the sentiments of more than ten popular Telegram channels regarding a wide range of cryptocurrencies. These comments were collected through the Telegram API from December 2023 to March 2024. This data set contains an Excel file containing the text of the comments, the date of comment creation, the number of views, the compound score, the sentiment score, and the type of sentiment polarity. These opinions cover influencer analysis on a wide range of cryptocurrencies. Also, two Word files, one containing the description of the dataset columns and the other Python code for extracting comments from Telegram channels, are included in this dataset.

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Behavioral economics has proven that analyzing market behavior effectively predicts stock price trends [ 1 ]. It has also been shown in sate-of-arts [ 2 , 3 , 4 ] that sentiment analysis of comments on social networks such as X (former Twitter), Telegram, Reddit, and Facebook can effectively help predict the price trend of cryptocurrencies. In this article, Telegram comments of more than ten popular cryptocurrency-related channels have been extracted using the Telegram API from December 2023 to March 2024. Unlike the previous dataset [ 5 , 6 , 7 ] that are extracted only through the hashtag of the names of cryptocurrencies, this dataset contains the analysis of experts in cryptocurrencies, which is very effective on investors’ decisions in buying, selling, or holding cryptocurrencies. Unlike most existing datasets, this dataset covers a wide range of ciphers. Also, in addition to the main text of Telegram comments, this data set includes the number of views of each comment, the date of publication, and the polarity and the polarity score of the comments. After the extraction and preprocessing of Telegram comments, the polarity of these comments is determined by the HRDB model [ 8 ]. This model uses the RoBERTa pre-trained neural network as the backbone for transfer learning. Then, the extracted knowledge is injected into the deep neural network of BiGRU by combining the attention layer to determine the polarity of emotions. The main goal of this research is to provide a dataset of Telegram comments for the sentiment analysis of passwords, which has many applications in the training of neural networks for research in the field of passwords. This dataset helps researchers analyze the opinions of Telegram channels on a wide range of cryptocurrencies. The introduced data package includes an Excel table containing the Telegram monitoring set and two Word files. The Word files contain the descriptions of the columns of the main Table and Python code to extract comments from Telegram channels.

This data package has three files. An Excel file contains the opinions of over ten popular Telegram channels about cryptocurrencies. The monitoring of these Telegram channels covers a wide range of cryptocurrencies from December 2023 to March 2024. It was collected through the Telegram API, and the code for extracting these comments is available in the Word package file. After extracting the comments, the operations were performed on them, including equalization, removing stop words, and lemmatization. Then, these data are injected into the HDRB model, described in detail in the research of Kia et al. [ 8 ], along with its implementation method. HDRB is a hybrid model based on transfer deep learning that uses the RoBERTa as a backbone and feature extractor and BiGRU deep neural network and attention layer to obtain sentiment polarity and text aspects. This dataset package and Python codes for pre-processing and extracting Telegram comments are listed in Table ( 1 ).

The information of Dataset 1 is (1) text, (2) date, (3) views, (4) scores, (5) compound, and (6) sentiment_type. In the mentioned features, “text” is the preprocessed Telegram comment, “date” column shows the time and date of publication of the comment, “views” shows the number of people’s views of a comment, " scores” shows the percentage of positive, negative, and neutral polarities. These percentages were obtained with the HDRB model [ 8 ], “compound” shows the sum of all polarities in a normalized form between − 1 (most extreme negative) and + 1 (most extreme positive), and " sentiment_type” It shows the type of tweet polarity (positive, negative, or neutral). Researchers can easily change the number of polarities by using compound values—for example, strongly positive, positive, neutral, negative, and strongly negative.

Limitations

There are no limitations in the datasets, and the Telegram channels used in the datasets to extract Telegram’s comments are public.

Data availability

You can access the data package, including the dataset and other required files, for free through the link below. Link: https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/3733zt5bs6/1 .

Thaler R. Behavioral economics: Past, present, and future 2016. 106(7): pp. 1577–1600.

Parekh R et al. DL-GuesS: Deep learning and sentiment analysis-based cryptocurrency price prediction 2022. 10: pp. 35398–35409.

Valencia F, Gómez-Espinosa A, Valdés-Aguirre B. Price Mov Prediction Cryptocurrencies Using Sentiment Anal Mach Learn. 2019;21(6):589.

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KANNIAH G. Pre-processed Tweets by verified users, Elon Musk, Vitalik Buterin and CZ Binance . 2021, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5336611 .

Mazzoli I. 2022: Kaggle, https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/ilariamazzoli/3-million-tweets-cryptocurrencies-btc-eth-bnb .

Peleg Y. Cryptocurrency extra data-Elon musk’s tweets. Kaggle; 2021. https://www.kaggle.com/yamqwe/elon-musks-twitter-updated-031121 .

Jahanbin K, Chahooki MAZ. Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis of Twitter Influencers to Predict the Trend of Cryptocurrencies Based on Hybrid Deep Transfer Learning Models 2023. 11: pp. 121656–121670.

Jahanbin K, Chahooki MAZ, Rahmanian F, Yazdian M, Dehkordi. Comments on Telegram channels related to cryptocurrencies along with sentiments. data Mendeley. 2024;1. https://doi.org/10.17632/3733zt5bs6.1 .

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Department of Computer Engineering, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran

Kia Jahanbin, Mohammad Ali Zare Chahooki & Mahdi Yazdian-Dehkordi

Department of Information Technology, Islamic Azad University Branch of Kerman, Kerman, Iran

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Contributions

Kia Jahanbin, Mohammad Ali Zare Chahooki, Mehdi Yazdian Dehkordi, and Fereshte Rahmanian contributed to conceptualizing and implementing sentiment analysis models and drafted the manuscript. Kia Jahanbin and Fereshte Rahmanian contributed to data collection and storage.

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Correspondence to Mohammad Ali Zare Chahooki .

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Jahanbin, K., Chahooki, M.A.Z., Yazdian-Dehkordi, M. et al. Database comments on Telegram channels related to cryptocurrencies with sentiments. BMC Res Notes 17 , 135 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-024-06778-9

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-024-06778-9

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The moderating role of psychological power distance on the relationship between destructive leadership and emotional exhaustion

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• Yavuz Korkmazyurek   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8329-4080 1 &
• Metin Ocak   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1142-3661 1  

Destructive leadership, a prevalent negative behavior in modern organizations, continues to captivate the interest of scholars and professionals due to its detrimental aftermath. Drawing from social psychological (culture) and conservation of resources theory, we explore the moderating impact of psychological power distance on the link between destructive leadership and emotional exhaustion. The main contribution of this study is that it has created new information about the moderating role of some specific sub-dimensions of psychological power distance (e.g., hierarchy, prestige) in the relationship between destructive leadership and emotional exhaustion. Our findings also reveal a positive correlation between a destructive leadership style and emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, the prestige aspect of psychological power distance amplifies the influence of deficient leadership abilities and unethical conduct on emotional exhaustion. Notably, our study highlights that in the Turkish context, characterized by high power distance, and escalating hierarchies the impact of nepotism disparities on emotional exhaustion. In conclusion, these novel insights underscore a significant research avenue regarding cultural facets.

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Introduction

The actions of leaders in charge of societies and organizations have far-reaching effects, influencing organizational culture and the mental well-being of employees. On the other hand, culture is also recognized to influence various organizational relationships. Concordantly, one cultural element that can explain variations in leadership effectiveness, work attitudes, or job performance is an employee’s power distance orientation (Leonidou et al., 2021 ; Matta et al., 2022 ). Power distance at an individual level also serves as a moderating factor on various aspects, such as the effectiveness of leadership, employees’ perceptions and opinions of their organizations, and the core impacts of HR practices on employees (e.g., Adamovic, 2023 ; Li et al., 2017 ; Loi et al., 2012 ). In this context, despite some recent studies exploring the nature of power and its effects on leader behavior and employee responses from a psychological standpoint (e.g., Kelemen et al., 2020 ; Liao et al., 2021 ; Peng et al., 2021 ), given the extensive influence of psychological power, it is challenging to assert that the literature has fully developed.

According to the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, resources are broadly defined as objects, personal characteristics, conditions, or energies that are valued because they help one to either directly obtain his or her goals or thwart his or her goal-relevant tendencies (Hobfoll, 2011 ). However, some non-constructive leadership behaviors such as DL continue to threaten the motivation level of employees (Rasid et al., 2013 ), individual resources (Hobfoll, 2011 ), and the welfare of organizations (Brouwers & Paltu, 2020 ; Veldsman, 2012 ). This fact creates a need to understand the contextual development of DL in organizations. DL can be seen as a new type of leadership where leaders engage in systematic and prolonged psychological abuse of subordinates (Ryan et al., 2021 ). Previous research has indicated that the impact of DL may depend on the context, as relationships can vary based on cultural and situational factors (e.g., Burns, 2021 ; Fors Brandebo, 2020 ). In parallel, numerous studies reveal the consequences of such leadership styles (Tepper, 2000 ) and propose theoretical models explaining the mechanisms of these styles (Einarsen et al., 2007 ; Wang et al., 2010 ). More specifically, negative leadership styles have been associated in the current literature with Emotional Exhaustion (EE) (Gkorezis et al., 2015 ; Koç et al., 2022 ), turnover intentions (Badar et al., 2023 ), and counterproductive work behavior (Murad et al., 2021 ). Besides, there is also an increasing research trend regarding the roles played by leadership in the moods and emotions of subordinates (Bono et al., 2007 ; Gooty et al., 2010 ).

“National culture has a crucial role in influencing the occurrence of leadership style” (Zhang & Liao, 2015 , p. 960), and shapes subordinates’ reactions toward these leadership styles (Hofstede, 2001 ; Tepper et al., 2017 ). One of these leadership styles is Destructive Leadership (DL) which is increasing in today’s societal and business areas (Krasikova et al., 2013 ) and prevents proper organizational functioning (Cascio & Aguinis, 2008 ). Organizations invest substantial resources in safeguarding and enhancing employee well-being (Salas-Vallina et al., 2021 ). Within this framework, COR, rooted in the resource-based perspectives of organizations, underscores individuals’ endeavors to safeguard, uphold, and cultivate their resources, highlighting bad management and stress as perceived threats to these resources (Hobfoll, 2011 ). Therefore, based on the COR, enhancing our understanding of the phenomenon of DL by exploring the impact of Psychological Power Distance (PPD) experienced by subordinates on their perceptions of leaders’ abusive behaviors is also significant in terms of decreasing employees’ level of Emotional Exhaustion (EE). EE, is expressed as “feelings of being emotionally drained by one’s work” (Bakker & Costa, 2014 , p. 2), and one of the primary emotional states experienced by employees today. In conclusion, the COR theory as a factor in work-related stress and destructive leadership can be used as a basis to eradicate the harmful effects of destructive leadership for the betterment of professional environments.

As a cultural factor, “Power Distance” (PD) assesses the probability that individuals facing greater inequality within the same social framework will recognize and expect unequal power distribution (Gonzalez, 2021 ). Hence, PD is a distinguishing feature among societies (Meydan et al., 2014 ). In this line, the PD beliefs of subordinates also vary depending on different leadership styles (Yang, 2020 ). For instance, in some cultures, leaders garner respect for taking decisive action, while in others, collaborative and participative decision-making methods hold more significance (Ahmad et al., 2021 , p. 1112). However, the issue of low reliability persists in many power distance scales (Taras, 2014 ). In this context, Adamovic ( 2023 ) contends that the measurement components of the Psychological Power Distance (PPD) scale he created amalgamate a broad power distance aspect and encompass noteworthy, though distinct, facets of power distance. Besides, although the concepts of hierarchy and power are often used as substitute concepts, the distinction between these two concepts has been significantly neglected in previous research (Aïssaoui & Fabian, 2015 ). For example, “in France, employees often do not tolerate power differences, but they tend to value a strong hierarchy” (Adamovic, 2023 , p. 3; d’Iribarne, 1996 ).

However, empirical research on the effects of psychological power distance on DL and related outcomes such as employee EE is surprisingly scarce. This paper seeks to address this gap in the literature. Thus, we aim to explore the potential moderating impact of the newly defined PPD on the connection between DL and EE to achieve trustworthy empirical findings. On the other hand, the study specifically focuses on a sample of Turkish employees, given that Türkiye is the largest economy in the Middle East and Turkish cultural values have had a profound impact on the way organizations are managed in the Middle East region. Besides, most countries in the Middle East were founded with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and are societies that come from the same traditions and customs (Lindholm, 2008 ). Thus, as a society that traditionally values respect and compliance with authority, Türkiye represents an ideal context to study the effects of psychological power distance.

Theoretical background

Destructive leadership.

“Destructive leadership is conceptualized as a broad umbrella” (Mackey et al., 2021 , p. 707) that ranges from abusive supervision (Tepper, 2000 ; Tepper et al., 2017 ) to overburdening followers (Schmid et al., 2019 ). Therefore, a wide variety of theories and different approaches, such as the Psychodynamic approach (Pillay & April, 2022 ) or Strain theory (Chen & Cheung, 2020 ) which is a criminological theory, have been used to explain the behaviors and effects of Destructive Leadership (DL). On the other hand, researchers have discovered that a rise in disruptive behaviors, which can deplete individuals’ psychological resources, may stem from factors like heightened anxiety (Byrne et al., 2014 ), work-related stress (Rosenstein, 2017 ), or excessive job pressure (Lam et al., 2017 ). Concurrently, the field of DL is experiencing increased diversity. Within this realm, DL manifests in various structural forms. As per Einarsen et al. ( 2007 ) and Larsson et al. ( 2012 ), these forms can be categorized as active or passive. Active behaviors encompass traits such as arrogance, unfairness, and intimidating or disciplining subordinates. Passive behavioral patterns highlight leader qualities like disinterest, avoidance of conflict, or poor planning skills (Larsson et al., 2012 ). Active behaviors are systematic and deliberate, while passive forms indicate deficiencies in leaders’ work and responsibilities (Einarsen et al., 2007 ). In addition, DL is divided into two dimensions in the literature: task and relationship. Task-related behaviors represent perceptions of the leader’s competence, including:

Isolation from outside interference and excessive control.

Lack of determination and uncertainty.

Stress and loss of control.

The relationship-related behaviors dimension refers to the leader’s skills in human relations, such as:

Low ability to relate to colleagues and subordinates and lack of job satisfaction.

Lack of understanding and self-centered behavior (Fors et al., 2016 ).

On the other hand, “employees will attribute leadership behavior in the process of interaction with the leaders” (Jiao & Wang, 2023 , p. 2), and the psychological states of subordinates will also be affected depending on their attribution. As a result, based on attribution theory (Heider, 1958 ; Weiner, 1985 ), it should not be ignored that whether the above-mentioned behaviors will be perceived as destructive or non-destructive may differ depending on the psychological state and perceptions of the subordinates in addition to cultural impact (Kong & Jogaratnam, 2007 ; Ojo, 2012 ).

Emotional exhaustion

Burnout, a psychological syndrome brought on by a prolonged reaction to ongoing workplace stressors (Maslach et al., 2001 ), is a significant issue that is becoming worse as workers are subjected to increasing pressure and demands from their managers under different cultural contexts (Rattrie et al., 2020 ). Moreover, burnout has been associated with several negative organizational outcomes, including job performance, emotional labor, and reduced employee well-being (Moon & Hur, 2011 ; Qiu et al., 2023 ; Maslach et al., 2001 ). “It is generally accepted to encompass three dimensions that occur in a developmental sequence” (Strack et al., 2015 , p. 578): from emotional exhaustion (EE) to depersonalization and subsequent decline in achievement (Cordes & Dougherty, 1993 ; Maslach et al., 2001 ). Within this framework, EE refers to the extent to which an individual is depleted or lacking in physical and psychological resources to cope with an interpersonal stress situation (Maslach et al., 2001 ). Employees who experience EE at work feel extremely stressed because they lose their physical and mental endurance (Obi et al., 2020 ) which ultimately leads to unhealthy tendencies as well as anxiety, stress, and depression (Bianchi et al., 2015 ; Weigl et al., 2017 ). On the other hand, the main characteristics of EE at the organizational level are the desire to quit work, absenteeism, and low morale (Maslach, 1996 ). Ultimately, the chronic experience of negative emotions in both individual and organizational contexts and the difficulties employees experience in regulating them can deplete their cognitive and emotional resources, which emerges as an important risk factor for EE (Chang, 2009 ; Hsieh et al., 2011 ).

Destructive leadership and emotional exhaustion

Different leadership styles have a known impact on employees’ emotions (Baig et al., 2021 ), and “employees’ perceptions about the leader are likely to affect their attitudes” (Gkorezis et al., 2015 , p. 622). In this context, destructive leadership styles (e.g., abusive supervision, petty tyranny, negative leadership) may trigger negative emotional reactions from employees (Schilling & Schyns, 2015 ), and increase employees’ emotional exhaustion (Chi & Liang, 2013 ). According to the Emotional Dissonance theory, negative supervision may also lead employees to conceal their true emotions (Naseer & Raja, 2021 ). Thus, scholars are focusing on leaders’ negative behavioral impact on employees’ emotional exhaustion levels (Gkorezis et al., 2015 ) to increase employee well-being at work (Hetrick et al., 2022 ). In addition, interpersonal stressors that diminish the well-being of employees are frequently experienced within the organizational atmosphere dominated by DL due to the nature of this harmful style (Hetrick et al., 2022 ). According to the Emotional Dissonance theory, negative supervision may also lead employees to conceal their true emotions (Naseer & Raja, 2021 ). Within this framework, scholars are focusing on leaders’ negative behavioral impact on employees’ emotional exhaustion levels (Gkorezis et al., 2015 ) to increase employee well-being at work (Hetrick et al., 2022 ), interpersonal stressors that diminish the well-being of employees are frequently experienced within the organizational atmosphere dominated by DL due to the nature of this harmful style (Hetrick et al., 2022 ), this article bases the theoretical connection between Destructive Leadership (DL) and Emotional Exhaustion (EM) on the definition of Einarsen et al. ( 2007 ).

[..] is the systematic and repeated behavior of a leader or manager that harms the organization’s legitimate interests by undermining the organization’s resources, and effectiveness, motivation, and job satisfaction of subordinates (p. 208).

Current studies have explored the positive relationship between despotic, toxic, and destructive leadership with emotional exhaustion (e.g., Shahzad et al., 2023 ; Koç et al., 2022 ). In this context, “meta-analytic evidence demonstrates that DL has negative consequences for followers’ workplace behaviors (e.g., job performance, organizational citizenship behaviors [OCBs], workplace deviance)” (Mackey et al., 2019 , p. 3). These empirical findings may suggest that DL outputs could also result in EM among employees. In conclusion, destructive leaders can cause fundamental problems in business life, such as increasing the level of emotional exhaustion (Krumov et al., 2016 ), and subordinates who are constantly exposed to leaders’ destructive practices experience frustration and emotional exhaustion (Glasø & Vie, 2009 ). Given the theoretical discussions above, the research’s first hypothesis was formulated as follows.

H1: There is a positive relationship between destructive leadership and emotional exhaustion.

Psychological power distance

The PPD concept originates from a multidisciplinary field of study called cross-cultural psychology, which seeks to understand how culture impacts the cognitive and behavioral outcomes of individuals and groups (Yang, 2020 ). According to Hofstede ( 1991 , p. 27), “power distance can be described as the degree to which individuals who are less powerful within a country’s institutions and organizations anticipate and acknowledge the unequal distribution of power”. In this context, “Shore and Cross ( 2005 , p. 57) underlined that power is distributed more equitably in low power distance cultures and unequally in high power distance cultures. For instance, the power distance index (Khakhar & Rammal, 2013 ) shows that the Arab world, which values traditional authority highly (Inglehart, 1997 ), scores highly in this index, and people working in these cultures strictly follow higher hierarchical orders (Chiaburu et al., 2015 ; Korkmazyurek & Korkmazyurek, 2023 ). In summary, “individuals who score highly on psychological power distance also tend 1) accept and tolerate power differences in the workplace, 2) avoid conflict with authority figures, 3) prefer a clear hierarchy at work, 4) strive for status and prestige, and 5) expect a social distance between managers and employees.” (Adamovic, 2023 , p. 2).

Psychological power distance as a moderator

It has been suggested that various cultures have their norms regarding what constitutes good or bad leadership, and these norms may be reflected in the perception of psychological power distance (Tang et al., 2020 ). In this context, numerous studies explore the connection between PD and leaders’ influence tactics as PD decides if subordinates in a culture would accept a leader’s influence and the specific situations in which a leader might face resistance from a group of subordinates. Thus, investigating the role of PD in employees’ perception of leaders and better understanding the impact of leaders on employee well-being, will not only inform practices for workplace health intervention but also enlighten leadership researchers in discussing the universal and contingency theory of leadership. On the other hand, several power distance measures, like the ones created by Cable & Edwards ( 2004 ), Dorfman & Howell ( 1988 ), and Maznevski and colleagues ( 2002 ), have produced interesting findings on the importance of power distance concerning employee results and leadership (Adamovic, 2023 , p. 2). As an example, Tepper ( 2007 ) claims that “countries with high power distance experience more abusive supervision”. Thus, individuals characterized by large power distance have a high tolerance for lack of autonomy and rely more on centralization and formalization of authority (Hofstede, 1980 ). In this context, PPD influences how people feel, think, and act about problems of status and power at work and is crucial in understanding how leaders and subordinates interact (Adamovic, 2023 , p. 1).

The moderating impact of PD on the link between workers’ job satisfaction, performance, and absenteeism was highlighted by Lam and Friends ( 2002 . p.14). On the other hand, Farh and Friends ( 2007 : 721) found in their study that PD had a negative moderating effect on the relationship between work outcomes such as organizational commitment, job performance, and conscientiousness. According to the findings above, we can argue that PPD has a deterministic effect on the functioning of the theoretical mechanisms between DL and EM. Besides, In countries with high power distance, abuse by superiors is quite normative and consistent for subordinates in superior-subordinate relationships (Tepper, 2007 ). In this regard, the need for power in the prestige dimension (Carl et al., 2004 ; Hofstede, 2001 ; Schwartz, 2014 ), which is an organic extension of previous power distance studies, is also associated with narcissistic and Machiavellian actions and attitudes (Jonason et al., 2022 ). “People with high power distance orientation in the workplace typically accept status disparities, whereas people with low power distance orientation frequently support treating everyone equally regardless of status symbols.” (Adamovic, 2023 , p. 3). Conversely, workers with a low power distance orientation favor participatory leadership and decision-making processes which is not as prevalent under abusive supervision (Rao & Pearce, 2016 ). As a result, in countries with low power distance, abusive supervision may affect the emotional state of subordinates (Meydan et al., 2014 ).

De Clercq and colleagues ( 2021 ) discovered that PPD is positively associated with subordinates’ perception of superiors’ destructive leadership. This indicates that when subordinates perceive high PPD, they are more likely to view their leaders as engaging in such destructive behaviors. This correlation can also be attributed to abusive supervision, a form of destructive leadership behavior. According to social learning theory (Rumjaun & Narod, 2020 ), when leaders’ power is internalized and reflected as subordinates’ psychological power distance, the aggressive behaviors displayed by leaders are likely to be observed and learned by subordinates. These aggressive behaviors could then lead to emotionally exhausting reactions in the subordinates. Correlationally, this study suggests that psychological power distance mediates the link between destructive leadership behaviors and subordinates’ emotional exhaustion levels.

H2: Psychological power distance has a moderating role in the relationship between perceived destructive leadership and emotional exhaustion.

The causal research method which is one of the quantitative research methods is used in the study. Cross-sectional data were collected using an electronic survey form through the convenience sampling method. Participants received the link to the electronic survey form via social media and email. The statistical analyses were carried out with AMOS 24 and SPSS 27.

Sample and procedure

The survey sample size was determined by the Non-random convenience sampling method and the process of its determination was as follows: The sample size that can numerically represent the universe of working people was calculated with the formula below (Ding et al., 2022 ).

In this formula, n represents the required sample size and Z represents the z-statistic at a 90% confidence level (Z = 1.64). σ represents the standard deviation of the overall population and takes the value of 0.5. d is the tolerance error or sampling error. It is the difference between the universe parameter and the statistical value obtained from the sample. Since such a research model has not been studied before in the Turkish culture, the tolerance error for the sample was accepted as 10%. The final required sample size was calculated as 67.

Along this line, in a homogenous group with a reliability of 0.90 and a sampling error of 0.10, a sample group of 61 people can represent a universe of 100 million people (Yazıcıoğlu & Erdoğan, 2004 ). Moreover, in a heterogeneous group, a sample size of 96 is sufficient. Data were collected from a total of 222 employees working in different jobs by using the convenience sampling method via an online survey. This sample strategy allows us to collect data that covers more industries in Türkiye. The participation of participants in the research was voluntary. Working in a workplace was the only criterion for participants. In this context, it was accepted that the sample size was large enough to represent the universe.

117 (53%) of the participants were female, and 105 (47%) were male. The participants have 14.48 (sd = 10.46) mean years of working experience, while their age was between 19 and 67 years, with a mean value of 40.87 (sd = 9.42). % 24.9 of the participants were between 19 and 34, % 24.9 between 35 and 40, % 25.8 between 41 and 47, and % 24,4 between 47 and 67 years old.

Measure of psychological power distance

The PPD perception was measured with the scale, developed by Adamovic ( 2023 ). This scale is a five-point Likert-type scale (1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree) comprising fifteen items under five factors (Power, Conflict with Authority Figure, Hierarchy, Prestige, and Social Distance). Ascending numbers indicate the extent to which power distance was perceived. The overall original psychological power distance scale demonstrated strong reliability (α = 0.82). The scale has not been used in Turkish before. For this reason, firstly, this scale was adapted to Turkish, and then the validity and reliability of the scale were tested. By adopting this scale, the method suggested by Brislin et al. ( 1973 ) was used. This method includes five basic steps: translation into the target language, evaluation of the translation into the target language, back-translation into the source language, evaluation of the back-translation into the source language, and final evaluation with experts. After the adaptation process, exploratory factor analysis was applied for the validity of the scale. In the exploratory factor analysis, the Principal Axis Analysis method and the Varimax Rotation Technique were applied to calculate factor loadings. Factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 were taken into consideration. As a result of the factor analysis, it was seen that all factor loadings were higher than 0.30 and there were no overlapping items. The lowest factor loading value recommended for a good factor analysis is 0.30 (Tavakol & Wetzel, 2020 ). As a result of the exploratory factor analysis, the KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin) value was found to be 0.76, and the result of Bartlett’s test was found to be p  < 0.001. After that, Confirmatory Factor Analysis was performed to examine the structural validity of the measurement tool. The single-factor, first-level related, unrelated, and second-level related models were tested and Psychological Power Distance Scale showed the highest goodness of fit in the first-level related model (Δχ2 = 145.18, p  < 0.001, SD = 79, Δχ2/SD = 1.84, RMSEA = 0.06, CFI = 0.92, IFI = 0.92, TLI = 0,90) which verified it’s original five-factor dimension. In our study, the Psychological Power Distance scale showed generally strong reliability (α = 0.78).

Measurement of destructive leadership

Destructive Leadership was measured with the scale which was developed by Aydinay ( 2022 ). Five Point Likert-type scale (1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree) comprises 26 items under five factors (Inadequate leadership skills and unethical behaviors, Authoritarian leadership, Inability to deal with new technology and other changes, Nepotism (favoritism), Callousness toward subordinates). Ascending numbers indicate the extent to which destructive leadership was perceived. The original scale’s reliability was reported using Cronbach’s coefficient alpha of α = 0.97, which showed that the scale was reliable. The validity of the scale was tested with confirmatory factor analysis, (Δχ2 = 590.23, p  < 0.01, SD = 280, Δχ2/SD = 2.11, RMSEA = 0.07, CFI = 0.94, IFI = 0.94, TLI = 0,93) which verified it’s original five-factor dimension. In our study, the Destructive Leadership scale showed generally strong reliability (α = 0.97).

Measurement of emotional exhaustion

In the study, to measure the emotional exhaustion levels the emotional exhaustion dimension scale in the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MTE) (Maslach et al. 1996 ), translated into Turkish by Ergin ( 1992 ), was used. Five-point Likert-type scale (1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree) comprises 9 items under one factor. The original scale’s reliability was reported using Cronbach’s coefficient alpha of α = 0.86, which showed that the scale was reliable. The validity of the scale was tested with confirmatory factor analysis, (Δχ2 = 40.51, p  < 0.006, SD = 21, Δχ2/SD = 1.93, RMSEA = 0.07, GFI = 0.96, CFI = 0.98, IFI = 0.98, TLI = 0,97) which verified it’s original one-factor dimension. In our study, the Emotional Exhaustion scale showed generally strong reliability (α = 0.91).

Table  1 displays the variables’ descriptive statistics as well as the Pearson correlation coefficients. Examining the correlations between the variables of the study, all sub-dimensions of Destructive Leadership [Inadequate leadership skills and unethical behaviors ( r  = 0.46, p  < 0.01), Authoritarian leadership ( r  = 0.49, p  < 0.01), Inability to deal with new technology and other changes ( r  = 0.42, p  < 0.01), Nepotism ( r  = 0.40, p  < 0.01), Callousness toward subordinates ( r  = 0.40, p  < 0.01)] were positively correlated with emotional exhaustion. There was no correlation between Psychological Power Distance sub-dimensions (Power, Conflict with Authority Figures, Hierarchy, Prestige, and Social Distance) and emotional exhaustion. Moreover, there was no correlation found between sub-dimensions of Destructive Leadership and Psychological Power Distance.

Using SPSS 27 software, a multiple regression analysis was executed to test the research’s first hypothesis. First of all, by controlling the effects of gender and age, the direct relationship between destructive leadership dimensions and emotional exhaustion was examined. Table  2 displays the analysis findings. The variance explained by emotional exhaustion in this model is R2 = 0.31. The results indicate that Authoritarian leadership (b = 0.29, p  < 0.01) is positively and significantly associated with emotional exhaustion. The study’s first hypothesis is supported by this result. The other sub-dimensions of Destructive leadership (Inadequate leadership skills and unethical behaviors, Inability to deal with new technology and other changes, Nepotism, and Callousness toward subordinates) aren’t associated with emotional exhaustion ( p  > 0.05).

Next, to test hypothesis 2, the moderating effect of psychological power distance sub-dimensions in the relationship between destructive leadership sub-dimensions and emotional exhaustion was examined through SPSS PROCESS 4.1 macro (Hayes, 2018 ). Totally twenty-five regression analyses were conducted. Model 1 of the PROCESS was applied in all analyses, based on 5000 bootstrap samples. As a result of all analyses, it was found that the Inadequate Leadership Skills and Unethical Behaviors X Prestige interaction variable (b = 0.17, 0.05 < 95% CI < 0.28), the Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes X Hierarchy interaction variable (b = 0,13, 0.02 < 95% CI < 0.24), the Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes X Prestige interaction variable (b = 0.16, 0.05 < 95% CI < 0.27), Nepotism X Hierarchy interaction variable (b = 0.10, 0.009 < 95% CI < 0.20) was significantly and positively associated with emotional exhaustion. All the other interactions were not significant.

To understand the interaction of Inadequate Leadership Skills and Unethical Behaviors X Prestige interaction, we examined the levels of independent variables based on the levels of moderator variables. To establish low and high values as a default setting, the 16th and 84th percentiles of the moderator variable by PROCESS are taken into consideration (Hayes, 2018 ). In our analysis when the prestige level is low, the association between Inadequate Leadership Skills, Unethical Behaviors, and emotional exhaustion (b = 0.25, 0.11 < 95% CI < 0.39), was relatively low. In contrast, when the prestige was high, Inadequate Leadership Skills and Unethical Behaviors were relatively highly related to emotional exhaustion (b = 0.54, 0.40 < 95% CI < 0.67). As the level of prestige increases, Inadequate Leadership Skills, Unethical Behaviors, and emotional exhaustion association also increase. This demonstrates that prestige strengthens the relationship between Inadequate Leadership Skills and Unethical Behaviors and Emotional Exhaustion. Along this line, we can say that prestige positively moderates the relationship between Inadequate Leadership Skills and Unethical Behaviors, and Emotional Exhaustion. This result validates the study’s second hypothesis.

To figure out the mechanism of the moderating effect of prestige, a simple slope plot was drawn as seen in Fig.  1 . It shows that in the case of a low level of prestige (dashed line) the increase in the Inadequate Leadership Skills and Unethical Behaviors leads to a moderately significant difference in emotional exhaustion. However, in the case of a high level of prestige (dashed straight line) differences in the Inadequate Leadership Skills and Unethical Behaviors lead to a relatively higher significant change in emotional exhaustion.

Simple slope for inadequate leadership skills and unethical behaviors by Prestige interaction

To understand the interaction of the Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes X Hierarchy interaction, we examined the levels of independent variables according to the levels of moderator variables. To establish low and high values as a default setting, the 16th and 84th percentiles of the moderator variable by PROCESS are taken into consideration (Hayes, 2018 ). In our analysis when the hierarchy level is low, the association between Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes and emotional exhaustion (b = 0.28, 0.12 < 95% CI < 0.43), was relatively low. On the contrary, when the hierarchy was high, the Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes was relatively highly related to emotional exhaustion (b = 0.49, 0.35 < 95% CI < 0.63). As the level of hierarchy increases, the Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes and emotional exhaustion association also increase. This shows that hierarchy strengthens the relationship between the Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes and emotional exhaustion. Accordingly, we can say that hierarchy positively moderates the relationship between the Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes and emotional exhaustion. This finding supports the second hypothesis of the study.

To figure out the mechanism of the moderating effect of hierarchy, the basic slope plot was created, as seen in Fig.  2 . It shows that in the case of a low level of hierarchy (dashed line) the increase in the Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes leads to a moderately significant difference in emotional exhaustion. However, in the case of a high level of hierarchy (dashed straight line) differences in the Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes lead to a relatively higher significant change in emotional exhaustion.

Simple slope for inability to deal with technology and other changes by Hierarchy interaction

To understand the interaction of the Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes X Prestige interaction we examined the levels of independent variables according to the levels of moderator variables. To establish low and high values as a default setting, the 16th and 84th percentiles of the moderator variable by PROCESS are taken into consideration (Hayes, 2018 ). In our analysis when the prestige level is low, the association between the Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes and emotional exhaustion (b = 0.27, 0.13 < 95% CI < 0.42), was relatively low. On the contrary, when the prestige was high, the Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes was relatively highly related to emotional exhaustion (b = 0.54, 0.39 < 95% CI < 0.68). As the level of prestige increases, the Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes, and emotional exhaustion association also increase. This shows that prestige strengthens the relationship between the Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes and emotional exhaustion. Accordingly, we can say that prestige positively moderates the relationship between the Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes and emotional exhaustion. This finding supports the second hypothesis of the study.

To figure out the mechanism of the moderating effect of prestige, the basic slope plot was created, as seen in Fig.  3 . It shows that in the case of a low level of prestige (dashed line) the increase in Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes leads to a moderately significant difference in emotional exhaustion. However, in the case of a high level of prestige (dashed straight line) differences in Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes lead to a relatively higher significant change in emotional exhaustion.

Simple slope for inability to deal with technology and other changes by Prestige interaction

To figure out the mechanism of the moderating effect of the Nepotism X Hierarchy interaction we examined the levels of independent variables according to the levels of moderator variables. To establish low and high values as a default setting, the 16th and 84th percentiles of the moderator variable by PROCESS are taken into consideration (Hayes, 2018 ). In our analysis when the hierarchy level is low, the association between Nepotism and emotional exhaustion (b = 0.21, 0.08 < 95% CI < 0.33), was relatively low. On the contrary, when the hierarchy was high, Nepotism was relatively highly related to emotional exhaustion (b = 0.38, 0.26 < 95% CI < 0.49). As the level of hierarchy increases, Nepotism, and emotional exhaustion association also increase. This shows that hierarchy strengthens the relationship between Nepotism and emotional exhaustion. Accordingly, we can say that hierarchy positively moderates the relationship between Nepotism and emotional exhaustion. This finding supports the second hypothesis of the study.

To figure out the mechanism of the moderating effect of hierarchy, the basic slope plot was drawn as seen in Fig.  4 . It shows that in the case of a low level of hierarchy (dashed line) the increase in Nepotism leads to a moderately significant difference in emotional exhaustion. However, in the case of a high level of hierarchy (dashed straight line) differences in Nepotism lead to a relatively higher significant change in emotional exhaustion.

Simple slope for nepotism by Hierarchy interaction

Discussion and conclusion

The study holds some important theoretical implications. The findings of this study offer valuable insights into the moderating role of newly conceptualized Psychological Power Distance (PPD) on the relationship between Destructive Leadership (DL) and Emotional Exhaustion (EE). First, our empirical results support previous research findings regarding the positive correlation between negative leadership styles such as toxic and narcissistic (e.g., Badar et al., 2023 ) and EE. Similar to the findings of Abubakar et al.‘s ( 2017 ) study on nepotism and workplace withdrawal, nepotism, one of the components of DL, was found to be positively correlated ( r  = 0.40, p  <.01) with EE. Hierarchy and nepotism pose risks in different forms (Tytko et al., 2020 ). A great example is the risk of possible downfall when concentrating all power on a small group of privileged relatives and the organs of that group. Also, it explains in terms of the risk of mutual support under hierarchy. When a society is structured in a certain way and has a social structure that allows powerful groups to protect each other’s interests, as is common in Middle Eastern societies, the privilege of that group is guaranteed (Shamaileh & Chaábane, 2022 ). And this mutual reinforcement can be a stable thing over time. Subsequently, the risks and consequences of these dysfunctional and corruptive practices in the context of organizational performance may also be possible.”

On the other hand, we can discuss our empirical results based on the concept of Perceived external prestige (Kamasak & Bulutlar, 2008 ) and social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 2004 ), which are also shaped around the concepts of social value and status. “According to the literature, perceived external prestige, unlike corporate image or corporate reputation, is based on employees’ beliefs (Šulentić et al., 2017 ). Within this framework, when we look at the items measuring the prestige dimension of PPD, we encounter statements that gaining respect and status is important for employees to exert social influence (Cheng et al., 2013 ). Previous studies have shown that the concept of prestige/status is also associated with EE (Sessions et al., 2022 ) and narcissism which is one of the main characteristics of DL (e.g., Cheng et al., 2010 ; Haertel et al., 2023 ; Zeigler et al., 2019 ). Correlationally, our empirical findings also show that prestige also strengthens the relationship between inadequate leadership skills, unethical behaviors, and EE. Besides, This study also created new information about the moderating role of some specific sub-dimensions of PPD in the relationship between DL and EE. Furthermore, the prestige aspect of PPD amplifies the influence of deficient leadership abilities and unethical conduct on EE.

On the other hand, “hierarchies may produce undesirable or dysfunctional consequences” in organizations (Magee & Galinsky, 2008 ; Leavitt, 2005 ). In this context, the fact that differences in Nepotism lead to a relatively higher significant change in EE in case the hierarchy is high can be considered as an empirical finding that may lead to undesirable and dysfunctional results in the organizational context. Additionally, in the context of this research, a specific mediating link of prestige/status seeking emerged in the effect of destructive leadership style on EE. Although this finding is limited, it can be generalized to Middle Eastern countries (e.g., Syria, Lebanon, Iraq) where power distance is high. Therefore, The study holds some managerial implications. These results may assist organizations and leadership training experts in developing interventions to reduce employee EE and abusive supervisory behaviors. In addition, the interactional effect of high levels of hierarchy on the relationship between DL and EE also sheds light on the cultural and psychological processes in societies where PPD is high.

When the prestige was high, the Inability to Deal with New Technology and Other Changes was relatively highly related to EE (b = 0.54, 0.39 < 95% CI < 0.68). In other words, as the level of prestige increases, the challenges of inability to adopt new technology, and EE association also increase. This shows that prestige strengthens the relationship between the challenges of the inability to adopt new technology and EE. Most of the time, it is seen that introducing new technology to the workplace may create fear in the employees. Techniques such as training, communication, and support should be used by the management to minimize these challenges (Ivanov et al., 2020 ). In this context, power distance measures the extent to which subordinates accept control from their leaders or supervisors, or the extent of freedom that they can practice their own beliefs, values, and behaviors (Guzman & Fu, 2022 ). In high power distance cultures, subordinates are not allowed to raise their voice to their supervisor- no matter right or wrong they think. Traditionalists think that this rigid stratification may stop the implementation of new technology developed in high power distance countries like China or Malaysia (e.g., Rithmire, 2023 ). In conclusion, our empirical findings point out a well-established path for future study which focuses on the impact of power distance theories on organizational behavior like technology adaptation.

In a recent research by Harms and his colleagues, they found that the negative effects of DL on EE (Hattab et al. 2022 ) could be reduced by PPD. This means that when subordinates do not perceive a large power distance between them and their leaders, the harmful effect of DL on EE may be minimized. This may be because when subordinates have low PPD from their leaders, they are likely to question the necessity of coping with EE and evaluate demands made by the leaders. On the contrary, when subordinates perceive a large psychological power distance, they are more likely to accept the situation and engage in EE because it is a reflection of decorum or cultural practices. Moreover, it has been suggested that different cultures have their norms about what is good or bad leadership, and these norms can be reflected in the perception of PPD. Investigating the role of power distance in employees’ perception of leaders and better understanding the impact of leaders on employee well-being, will not only inform practices for workplace health intervention but also enlighten leadership researchers in discussing the universal and contingency theory of leadership.

The study of the moderating role of PPD will be advantageous for the following reasons. Firstly, fostering a transparent and merit-based work culture in high PPD countries is a way to reduce and prevent nepotism in the employment setting (Kirya, 2020 ). Secondly by identifying how and under what circumstances different types of leaders may impact differently on employees, human resource practitioners will have better insight into leader selection and training. For example, if an organization operates in a relatively low power distance culture such as the United States (Hofstede, 2001 ), then the findings from our research suggest that both supportive and directive leadership styles may be effective in reducing employees’ EE. However, if the same organization aims to expand to countries with higher power distance, especially those in the Middle East, it will be beneficial to have leaders with less directive and more supportive leadership styles in charge. In this circumstance, human resource practitioners can use the cultural dimensions of different societies such as power distance to evaluate the suitability of leaders’ approaches and make necessary modifications.

Limitations and future research directions

Because most concepts in the social sciences are interrelated in some way, theoretical frameworks that provide a holistic perspective are particularly important in facilitating research.

Therefore, in order not to expand the scope of the research too much, thereby the theoretical structure is limited to specific correlated variables. On the other hand, organizations are rich in complex interpersonal interactions, and these relational dynamics, combined with unique organizational factors, can differentiate the relationship of DL and EE from one organization to another. Besides, culture is another important antecedent predictor in terms of organizational outcomes. For example, the culture that affects the follower’s questioning, ethical decision-making, or tolerance of the unethical behavior of the supervisor (Cohen, 1995 ). Therefore, it should not be ignored that the level of EE may differ depending on the level of exposure to DL along with culture, situational circumstances, level of motivation, or personality characteristics of employees.

The PPD is a newly conceptualized notion. In this context, we also believe that the hypothesis and the results of our study may lead to new research questions for unexplored fields. In addition, there are several practical implications within our research. We explained the organic mechanism between DL and EE under the moderation of PPD. In this sense, employees and practitioners need to understand the motivation and psychological contract (Rousseau, 1990 ) level of employees under the reign of DL. On the other hand, based on our conceptual elaboration in this paper, we also suggest future research on gender, because, male and female forms of destructive leadership can differ significantly in terms of gender barriers and catalysts such as role fit. Finally the complex nature of the research variables, qualitative research is needed to explore which individual resources (e.g., self-efficacy) or behaviors will be negatively affected to cope with destructive leaders. As an additional comment, the significant effect of hierarchy on emotional exhaustion in the Turkish sample, where power distance is high (Hofstede, 2001 ) could be a starting point for future research in the context of the impact of cultural homogenization/globalization via internal uniformity (Conversi, 2014 ).

This study has some limitations. First of all, this study is conducted in a rather small region in Türkiye. Examining this research model at the international level in different provinces and different cultures will make strong contributions to the literature. The second is the investigation of the proposed causal relationship through the application of a cross-sectional research methodology. Thirdly, because our study relies on self-reported questionnaires, it is susceptible to common method biases and social desirability.

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Korkmazyurek, Y., Ocak, M. The moderating role of psychological power distance on the relationship between destructive leadership and emotional exhaustion. Curr Psychol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-06016-2

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