Awe Guards My Creativity: The Interactive Effect of Perceived Abusive Supervisory Behavior, Dispositional Awe, and Creative Self-Efficacy on Chinese Employee Creativity.

Cynthia Atamba,Anastasia Popelnukha,Farida Lukoko Ibrahim

doi:10.3389/fsoc.2020.00051

Cynthia Atamba, Anastasia Popelnukha + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2020.00051

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Abstract

The study examined the responses of employees to supervisors who exhibited abusive behavior and invoked dispositional awe to influence their followers. The proposition is that two divergent predictors of supervisor effectiveness interact to affect the behavior of subordinates. The purpose of this study was to examine the interactive effect of perceived abusive supervisory behavior and perceived supervisor dispositional awe on employee creative self-efficacy and creativity. To test the proposed model, we collected cross-sectional data from 196 working professionals pursuing their Masters of Business Administration (MBA) at a large university in China. Our findings confirmed that perceived abusive supervisory behavior and perceived supervisor dispositional awe were predictors of employee creativity. Also, perceived supervisor dispositional awe moderated the relationship between perceived abusive supervisory behavior and employee creative self-efficacy. The theoretical and practical implications for leaders and organizations were discussed.

Highlights

Research indicates that ∼50% of employees in the United States of America consider their supervisors to be abusive (Namie and Namie, 2000; Tepper et al, 2011)
This study proposed four hypotheses to test this relationship: (1) employee creative self-efficacy mediates the relationship between perceived abusive supervisory behavior and employee creativity; (2) employee creative self-efficacy mediates the relationship between perceived supervisor dispositional awe and employee creativity; (3) perceived supervisor dispositional awe moderates the relationship between abusive supervisory behavior and employee creative self-efficacy; and (4) perceived supervisor disposition awe indirectly moderates the relationship between perceived abusive supervisory behavior and employee creativity, such that the effect is weaker when perceived supervisor dispositional awe is high rather than low
Creative self-efficacy fully mediated the relationship between perceived abusive supervisory behavior (ASB) and employee creativity (β = 0.34, p < 0.01; Table 3, Model 6) and partially mediated the relationship between perceived supervisor dispositional awe (SDA) and employee creative selfefficacy (β = 0.87, p < 0.01; Table 4, Model 6)

Summary

Introduction

Research indicates that ∼50% of employees in the United States of America consider their supervisors to be abusive (Namie and Namie, 2000; Tepper et al, 2011). Abusive supervisory behavior is conceptualized as verbal and non-verbal hostile behaviors that supervisors exhibit to employees (Tepper, 2000). This hostility includes silent treatment, ridiculing subordinates in public, outwardly expressing anger, or being rude. Some studies tentatively suggest a curvilinear relationship (Lee et al, 2013), while others demonstrate a negative relationship (Rauniyar et al, 2017; Zheng and Liu, 2017). Such contradictory empirical evidence indicates that fundamental questions remain unanswered. Research has not examined why and how perceived abusive supervisory behavior influences creativity

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