Despite the breadth of literature on destructive leadership styles and its impact on organizational culture, mission, and people, there has been sparse research specifically looking at toxic leadership, a more complex and comprehensive destructive leadership style in college/university settings. With the introduction of the term 'toxic leadership' in 1996, corporate and military organisations began to examine its role in influencing leadership culture. However, empirical research connecting this concept with higher educational systems did not appear until 2007. To better understand how the research in this area has evolved since then, the authors use thematic synthesis to examine the literature on toxic leadership in higher education from three contextual lenses: understanding toxic leadership; reviewing the influence of toxic leadership on organizational culture and employee morale; summarizing implications for managing resiliency in toxic environments. Suggestions for future research and limitations of the review are included.