Abusive supervision and my reaction. Am I a compassionate nurse?

Abusive supervision leads to employees' counterproductive work behaviors, which undermines an organization's sustainable development and survival. This study posits that the relationship between abusive supervision and counterproductive work behaviors varies across different age groups. Therefore, from the perspective of generational differences (Post-80s, Post-90s, Post-00s), we explored the mediating role of perceptions of organizational politics and defensive silence on abusive supervision and counterproductive work behaviors among 441 Chinese manufacturing employees by generation. The empirical analysis was conducted using Amos and SPSS statistical software. The results showed that abusive supervision significantly positively affected counterproductive work behaviors. Additionally, it finds that perceptions of organizational politics and defensive silence each serve as mediators in the relationship between abusive supervision and counterproductive work behaviors, forming a chained mediation effect. The study showed that the results differed among the Post-80s, Post-90s, and Post-00s groups. This suggests that generational differences have different perspectives on abusive supervision and counterproductive work behaviors. These results reveal the existence of a generational gap. The main contribution of this study lies in its identification of the chain mediating effects of perceptions of organizational politics and defensive silence between abusive supervision and counterproductive work behaviors from the perspective of generational differences for the first time. This enriches the research on generational differences, abusive supervision, and counterproductive work behaviors, providing new perspectives for future research endeavors.

Background: Abusive supervision is the subordinates’ perceptions of the extent to which their supervisors engage in the sustained display of hostile verbal and nonverbal behaviors. Also, abusive supervision hurts the organization causing lower levels of satisfaction, commitment, and counterproductive work behavior. Aim: Assessing Healthcare workers' perception level regarding abusive supervision, assessing the level of Healthcare workers' counterproductive work behavior, and finding out the influence of perceived abusive supervision on counterproductive work behavior among Healthcare workers. Research design: A descriptive correlational study design was used. Setting: The study was conducted at the Saudi German Hospital in Makkah, KSA. Subjects: (171) HCWs out of (300 participated in the study. Tools of data collection: Abusive supervision scale and counterproductive work behavior scale. Results: The majority (94%) of the studied participants perceived a high level of abusive supervision, and only 2% of them perceived a low level of abusive supervision from their supervisors. Also, less than two-thirds of them (65%) had moderate counterproductive work behavior, while only (15%) of the study participants had high levels. Conclusion: There was a strong positive relation between Healthcare workers' perceived abusive supervision and their counterproductive work behavior. Recommendations: healthcare managers must take corrective disciplinary approaches, actions, and strategies against supervisory abusive behavior and counterproductive behavior. Healthcare managers have to provide the employees with a favorable healthy professional work environment, which helps to overcome any counterproductive work behaviors.

Subordinates' counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) have been demonstrated as a critical precursor to their supervisors' abusive supervision. However, prior research has mainly taken a victim precipitation paradigm and focused on exploring subordinate characteristics that may diminish or amplify this relationship. The important role of supervisor characteristics has been rather overlooked. Integrating self‐regulation and identity threat theories, the current study extends the prior literature by focusing on supervisor characteristics, specifically, supervisors' sleep quantity, sleep quality, and narcissism, as moderators of the relationship between subordinates' CWB and supervisors' abusive supervision. The study utilized a time‐lagged design with a sample of 292 employees and 50 supervisors at a Chinese hospital. Results showed that subordinates' CWB at Time 1 was positively related to their supervisors' abusive supervision at Time 2. Supervisors' sleep quality was found to mitigate the relationship between subordinates' CWB and supervisors' abusive supervision; however, the moderating effect of supervisors' sleep quantity was not significant. Moreover, supervisors' narcissism exacerbated the relationship between subordinates' CWB and supervisors' abusive supervision. This study contributes to the abusive supervision literature by shifting away from the victim precipitation paradigm and placing supervisors, those in positions of power, at the forefront. Findings from the study provide insights into the design and implementation of supervisor training aimed at mitigating abusive behaviors in the workplace.

This study explores whether abusive supervision can effectively predict employees' counterproductive work behaviour (CWB) and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and the role of toxic emotions at work as a potential mediator of these relationships in nursing settings. Workplace bullying is widespread in nursing. Despite the growing literature on abusive supervision and employees' counterproductive work behaviour and organisational citizenship behaviour, few studies have examined the relationships between abusive supervision and these work behaviours from the viewpoint of the victimed employee's emotion process. This study adopted a two-stage survey of 212 nurses, all of whom were employed by hospitals in Taiwan. Hypotheses were tested through the use of hierarchical multiple regression. The results showed that abusive supervision was positively associated with toxic emotions. Moreover, toxic emotions could effectively predict nurses' counterproductive work behaviour and organisational citizenship behaviour. Finally, it was found that toxic emotions partially mediated the negative effects of abusive supervision on both work behaviours. Toxic emotions at work are a critical mediating variable between abusive supervision and both counterproductive work behaviour and organisational citizenship behaviour. Hospital administrators can implement policies designed to manage events effectively that can spark toxic emotions in their employees. Work empowerment may be an effective way to reduce counterproductive work behaviour and to enhance organisational citizenship behaviour among nurses when supervisors do not promote a healthy work environment for them.

The paper empirically tests the impact of abusive supervision and organisational tenure on emotional exhaustion and counterproductive work behaviour of knowledge workers as well as investigating the moderating role of psychological capital in the relationship between abusive supervision and organisational tenure and emotional exhaustion. Data were collected from a sample of knowledge workers, i.e., teachers, in Rawalpindi and Islamabad via a two-wave onsite-based survey. The final sample consisted of 243 teachers. Structural equation modelling analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Our results show that supervisors' abusive supervision is positively related to employees' counterproductive work behaviour and that supervisors' abusive supervision and employees' organisational tenure are positively related to employees' emotional exhaustion. Additionally, employees' psychological capital moderates the relationship between employees' organisational tenure and their emotional exhaustion. Ultimately, employees' emotional exhaustion partially mediates the relationship between supervisors' abusive supervision and employees' organisational tenure and their way of engaging in counterproductive work behaviour. The paper adds to the knowledge about the antecedents to employees' counterproductive work behaviour in the field of knowledge management research.

Previous research has identified both individual differences and perceived situational variables such as self-esteem and organizational justice as the antecedents of counterproductive work behaviors (CWB). This article focuses on employees’ perceived interpersonal interaction. More specifically, the relation between abusive supervision and subordinates’ counterproductive work behaviors toward the organization is examined. Using a sample of 198 dyads employees and their immediate supervisor (N = 396) from a multinational company in China, this research finds that abusive supervision results in increased levels of sabotage, withdrawal, production deviance, and theft. This research also examines the moderating effects of locus of control and perceived mobility on the relationships between abusive supervision and subordinates’ CWB toward the organization. The results suggest that locus of control moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and sabotage, production deviance and theft, but not abusive supervision and withdrawal; perceived mobility moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and withdrawal and theft, but not abusive supervision and sabotage and production deviance. Practical implications for human resource management are discussed.

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic necessitated teleworking, which inadvertently led to an impaired communication between supervisors and employees, resulting in abusive supervision. Drawing on the conservation of resources (COR) theory and the social identity theory, this study aims to address this negative association by examining the mediating role of state mindfulness and the moderating role of COVID-19 corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the relationship between abusive supervision and counterproductive work behaviors.Design/methodology/approachThis research employs both qualitative and quantitative research designs. Data collection involved an experimental design with 117 participants (Study 1), a cross-sectional survey with 243 participants (Study 2) and semi-structured interviews with 24 full-time employees (Study 3).FindingsThe results reveal that state mindfulness acts as a mediator in the positive relationship between abusive supervision and counterproductive work behaviors (CWB). Furthermore, COVID-19 CSR mitigates the relationship between abusive supervision and CWB within the organization, but not with the supervisor. Additionally, COVID-19 CSR moderates the impact of abusive supervision on state mindfulness.Practical implicationsThe results emphasize the crucial role of CSR when employees encounter abusive supervision during the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizations and managers should adopt appropriate strategies to enhance employees' perception of CSR. Prioritizing the cultivation of state mindfulness is also recommended, and organizations can provide short-term mindfulness training to improve employees' state mindfulness.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the understanding of abusive supervision and CWB in the context of forced teleworking.

This study examined the relationship between perceived intent of supervisors and subordinates' counterproductive responses to abusive supervision. Data were collected in two waves approximately one month apart from 268 full-time employees from the United States and in various occupations. Two forms of perceived intent of abusive supervision were assessed: hostile intent (i.e. abuse believed to be intended to cause harm to the subordinate) and motivational intent (i.e. abuse believed to be intended to motivate good performance from the subordinate). In general, subordinates who reported greater frequency of abusive supervision of both types at Wave 1 were more likely to engage in counterproductive work behaviours (CWBs) at Wave 2 than those who reported less abuse. As hypothesized, abusive supervision was more strongly associated with CWBs when perceived hostile intent was high rather than low. Contrary to expectations, abusive supervision was also more strongly associated with CWBs when perceived motivational intent was high rather than low. Our findings show that abuse by supervisors can result in CWBs by subordinates even if those subordinates believe that the abuse is intended to be motivational.

Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) is defined as behavior that harms organizations and people in organizations. There has been a growing interest among scholars in understanding CWB from a multilevel perspective. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior, this article reports results from two multilevel studies of how abusive supervision, workgroup CWB norms, and personal control influence CWB independently and how these three factors intertwine to predict CWB. In two studies (Study 1 was single-source with 597 employees from 31 work groups and Study 2 was multisource with 345 employees from 62 work groups), we consistently found that abusive supervision was positively related to CWB, and that high CWB norms was not only positively related to CWB, but also strengthened the abusive supervision–CWB link. Furthermore, the combination of strong workgroup CWB norms within groups and high personal control were found to have the greatest facilitating effect on CWB in response to abusive supervision.

PurposeThis research seeks to examine the mitigating effect of religiosity on the relationship between abusive supervision and unethical behavior in employees, with moral disengagement serving as a mediating factor. Drawing on social cognitive theory, the study proposes an overarching moderated mediation framework to analyze this complex dynamic.Design/methodology/approachThe testing of the model was based on hierarchical data obtained from 70 work units in services sector. Within this framework, 70 supervisors evaluated the unethical conduct of employees, while 700 employees assessed the abusive supervision they experienced and reported on their own moral disengagement and religiosity. For the analysis of both the measurement and the hypothesized models, multilevel modeling techniques in the Mplus software were utilized.FindingsThe study's findings indicate a direct positive link between abusive supervision and employees' unethical behavior, with moral disengagement mediating this relationship. Furthermore, the research discovered that abusive supervision leads to unethical behavior in employees through moral disengagement only in instances where their religiosity is low.Originality/valueThis research delves deeper by elucidating the role of moral disengagement in the dynamic between abusive supervision and unethical behavior. Diverging from prior research, this study uniquely highlights the moderating role of religiosity, showing its potential to weaken the impact of abusive supervision on unethical behavior in employees through moral disengagement.

Morality is a fundamental component of nurses' daily work. Nurses' cognitive tendencies toward moral disengagement in high-stress work environments can easily lead them to engage in counterproductive work behaviors that are not conducive to the organization. However, there is limited research on how to mitigate the impact of moral disengagement on counterproductive work behavior. The objective was to explore the impact of moral disengagement on counterproductive work behavior, as well as the reverse regulatory mechanism of moral identity on the relationship between moral disengagement and counterproductive work behavior. This was a quantitative, cross-sectional study. From September to October 2023, nurses from emergency departments of major hospitals in Hunan Province were recruited, and 500 questionnaires were distributed and collected using the WeChat app Credamo Seeing Numbers. All study procedures were approved by the Ethics Committee of Hunan Normal University (No. 2023-388). Moral disengagement had a positive effect on counterproductive work behavior directed at the organization (CWB-O) as well as counterproductive work behavior directed at individuals (CWB-I). Moral identity was not significant in moderating the relationship between moral disengagement and CWB-O. Moral identity had an inverse moderating effect on the mechanism of action between moral disengagement and CWB-I. Counterproductive work behavior guided by moral disengagement is detrimental to organizations, and moral identity can inhibit the effect of moral disengagement on CWB-I. Nursing administrators should focus on improving nurses' moral identity and improving the healthcare workplace environment so that moral identity can better exert its inhibitory effect on counterproductive work behavior among nurses.

Background: Counterproductive work behaviors are considered an important issue for every workplace. This is particularly the case in the nursing setting, as such behaviors can also be detrimental for patients. However, the reasons underpinning nurses’ counterproductive behavior have been little studied, and the literature from the perspective of perpetrators’ is fragmented. Purpose: The aim of this systematic literature review was to identify and summarize studies concerning antecedents that could lead nurses to display counterproductive work behaviors. Methods: The PRISMA Statement and Flowchart were used to select the studies included in this review. The research was performed in July 2015 using the PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Cochrane databases. Data were selected in stages based on inclusion, exclusion and quality criteria, and analyzed using Popay’s method. Results: Fourteen papers were selected. Counterproductive work behaviors in the nursing work environment were observed. The majority of studies were performed in North America (USA and Canada), using quantitative or qualitative designs. These work behaviors were studied in order to delineate predisposing factors and their relationship to Moral Disengagement. When counterproductive work behaviors are not sanctioned, and enforcement policies are not applied, they become an important problem for organizations. From the results of our systematic review, it is possible to identify two main foci: counterproductive work behaviors’ protective factors, and counterproductive work behaviors’ risk factors. Conclusion and implications for practice: This literature review identified specific antecedents that predispose nurses to engaging in counterproductive work behaviors, which negatively affect the quality of assistance and which can result in endangering the patient. This literature review helps to understanding the reasons that lead nurses to display counterproductive work behaviors, and can help prevent and restrict these phenomena.

ObjectiveConsistently with Bandura's theory of moral disengagement, we examined if moral disengagement predicted employees’ counterproductive work behaviours and organizational citizenship behaviours, also assessing moral competence as a moderator that, at higher values, could mitigate the positive association with counterproductive work behaviours and mitigate the negative association with organizational citizenship behaviours. MethodFive hundred eighty-three Italian employees completed a time-lagged online survey including the following measures: Work Moral Disengagement Scale (Fida, Paciello et al., 2015), Moral Competence Test (Lind, 1985), Counterproductive Work Behavior Checklist (Spector et al., 2006), Organizational Citizenship Behavior Scale (Podsakoff et al., 1990). Associations between variables were examined via multiple linear regressions with bootstrapping, while the interactions were probed through the Johnson-Neyman technique. ResultsMoral disengagement is positively related to counterproductive work behaviours and negatively related to organizational citizenship behaviours. Furthermore, the association between moral disengagement and counterproductive work behaviours is moderated by moral competence, with a significant positive association only at lower levels of the moderator. ConclusionWe demonstrated for the first time the potentially significant role played by moral competence as a moderator that could reduce the negative effects of moral disengagement on deviant and unethical organizational behaviours, discussing our results in light of available evidence and theory, and elaborating on practical implications.

In this study, the methods of literature study and questionnaire research are used with foreign mature scale analysis technique. Employees in manufacturing enterprises are surveyed for data collection. Based on 321 valid questionnaires with correlation analysis and linear regression method, effective data collection is achieved and aimed to explore the relationship among abusive supervision, counterproductive work behavior and negative affectivity of the employees. The results showed: abusive supervision and counterproductive work behavior of employees has a significant positive correlation; negative affectivity of employees is an intermediary variable. The significance of the survey in practice is to encourage leaders of enterprises to improve their strategy of management and pay more attention to the mental health of the employees.

While counterproductive work behaviors (CWB) are considered to be associated with both personal and situational antecedents, the relationship between these two factors is not entirely understood. Toward a better understanding of this issue, the present study examined the moderating effects of personality traits on the relationship between a specific situational stressor, abusive supervision, and organization-targeted counterproductive behaviors (CWB-O). The results found significant main effects for both abusive supervision and personality, as expected, as well as a significant interaction between them, whereby employees with low scores in conscientiousness, agreeableness, and/or emotional stability were more likely to engage in CWB-O in response to abusive behaviors from their supervisors.