Is abusive supervision harmful to organizational environmental performance? Evidence from China

Abstract

Employee proactive working behavior such as organizational citizenship behavior is important to improve organizations’ various outcomes. With the increasing attention to sustainable development, employees’ organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (OCBE) begins to be an important topic in the environmental management field. However, the possible antecedents, processes and consequences of OCBE among employees remain unclear. Drawing on social exchange theory and synthesizing perspectives of leadership, organizational citizenship behavior, and environmental performance, this research develops a conceptual model to investigate how abusive supervision affects employees’ OCBE, which in turn affects environmental performance. A multi-source matched sample from 151 senior managers and 1749 frontline employees working in China were used to examine the conceptual model. Results of structural equation modelling reveal that abusive supervision negatively affects employees’ felt obligation and positive mood at work, which in turn influences their OCBE and ultimately affects firm’s environmental performance. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.