Abusive supervision and workplace deviance: the mediating role of interactional justice and the moderating role of power distance

Abstract

This study replicates previous studies by examining the effects of abusive supervision on employee deviant behaviours in the Chinese organisational context. It extends the existing research of abusive supervision by investigating the mediating role of the perception of interactional justice and the moderating role of individual‐level power distance in the link between abusive supervision and workplace deviance. Regression analyses on data of 283 employee–supervisor dyads revealed that the perception of interactional justice mediates the link between abusive supervision and workplace deviance. We also found that abusive supervision has a stronger negative relationship with the perception of interactional justice for employees low in power distance than for employees high in power distance. These findings provide both replications of and extensions to western theories of abusive supervision and workplace deviance. Practical implications of this study include hints for reducing both financial and psychological costs of deviant behaviour.