Abstract
Abusive supervision, defined as subordinates’ perception of the extent to which supervisors engage in the sustained display of hostile verbal and non-verbal behaviors, excluding physical contact, is associated with various negative outcomes. This has made it easy for researchers to overlook the possibility that some supervisors regret their bad behavior and express remorse for their actions. Hence, we know little about how subordinates react to the perception that their supervisor is remorseful and how this perception affects the outcomes of supervisors’ undesired behavior. Specifically, drawing on the social exchange theory (SET) and displace revenge literature, this study explains how abusive supervision leads to victims’ service sabotage behavior. In addition, this study also investigates how perceived supervisors’ remorse (PSR) mitigates the adverse effects of abusive supervision. Based on time-lagged, dyadic data (63 supervisors, 212 subordinates) from Chinese individuals, this study found support for all the proposed relationships, i.e., abusive supervision leads to service sabotage through the mediating effect of revenge desire. The findings also conclude that PSR lessens the detrimental effects of abusive supervision on victims’ behavior with their customers. Finally, this research contributes to service sabotage literature by highlighting the possibility where abusive supervisors cause service sabotage behavior among victims. This study also shows the importance of PSR’s role in decreasing service sabotage behavior exhibited by victims of abusive supervisors in the service sector.
Highlights
Employees’ ethical behavior is one of the key factors for an organization to be effective and efficient
By examining an organizational outcome, we extend research on revenge desire as a mechanism through which abusive supervision influences subordinates’ behavior with their customers. While this is not the only mechanism that can serve as an explanation for this phenomenon, this study proposes that victims’ revenge desire mediates the positive relationship between abusive supervision and service sabotage
The preliminary analyses support our hypotheses i.e., abusive supervision is positively related to revenge desire (r = 0.54, p < 0.01) and service sabotage (r = 0.49, p < 0.01)
Summary
Employees’ ethical behavior is one of the key factors for an organization to be effective and efficient This factor becomes more crucial for in-service sector organizations as they continuously interact with their customers and their effectivity depends on their customers’ perceived satisfaction. That is, these are the customers who perceive whether interactions are highly ethical and where they can Abusive Supervision- Service Sabotage bring in new customers through positive word-of-mouth referrals. In a quest to highlight widespread sabotage behavior, Harris and Ogbonna (2002) reported that 85% of employees are involved in sabotage behavior They further stated that service sabotage has the potential to exert long-term, detrimental effects on the reputational and financial capital of the organizations. Service sabotage costs US firms up to $200 bn per year (Hongbo et al, 2019)
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