The present study investigated the relationships between destructive leadership behaviour (active and passive) and followers' work engagement and emotional exhaustion in a sample of New Zealand employees. The study also empirically tested the mediating role of psychological safety and role clarity in the relationships between destructive leadership behaviour (active and passive) and follower outcomes. Participation in a voluntary online self-reported questionnaire occurred at two-time points between July and September 2022. The study was converted into a cross-sectional approach using the T1 dataset for hypothesis testing. The statistical analysis was performed in Jamovi version 2.3.16.0. The mediation analysis found that destructive leadership behaviour (DLB) was significantly and positively associated with emotional exhaustion. Role clarity partially mediated the influence of DLB on work engagement, while the mediation of psychological safety was not found in the relationships between DLB and the outcomes. An empirical observation in a post hoc analysis revealed significant gender differences. Compared to men, women exposed to higher levels of DLB tended to experience lower levels of psychological safety at work. The study also found that active and passive DLBs could be hard to measure in time as a leader may simultaneously display as many active DLBs as passive DLBs. Research theoretical and practical implications, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.