Background: Destructive leadership, mostly exploitative leadership, make nurses engage in activities that alienate employees and create an overall negative work environment that consequently contribute creating negative work conditions. Aim: The current study aimed to examine staff nurses' perception regarding exploitative leadership and its effect on their work alienation. Design: A descriptive correlational design was utilized. Setting: The study was conducted at Beni-Suef University Hospital. Sample: A simple random sample of (289) staff nurses at Beni-Suef University Hospitals was selected. Data collection tools: There were two data collection tools namely; exploitative leadership scale and work alienation scale. Results: More than three quarters of nurses had low perception of their nurse managers' total exploitative leadership behavior and most nurses had low total workplace alienation. Conclusion: There is a highly statistically significant correlation between nurses' perception regarding nurse managers' exploitative leadership behavior and work alienation. Recommendations: Encouraging and enhancing professional behavior of nurse managers and supervisors away from exploitative leadership behavior.