Perceptions of abusive supervision: aggressive supervisors, aggressive subordinates, and organizational climates

Drawing from conservation of resources theory, this study aims to create new knowledge on the antecedents of abusive supervision. Results across 2 independent field studies within a manufacturing context (Study 1) and a customer service context (Study 2) consistently demonstrated a 3-way interaction pattern, such that supervisors' experiences of emotional exhaustion, perceived subordinate performance, and self-monitoring were jointly associated with subordinates' abusive supervision perceptions. A supplementary scenario experiment further corroborated this pattern. Together, the present studies illustrate a contingency model of abusive supervision's origins, highlighting emotional exhaustion as an important risk factor that is particularly likely to trigger abusive behavior among supervisors with lower (rather than higher) self-monitoring who are faced with a relatively underperforming subordinate. As such, this research advances the abusive supervision literature by offering new insights into the complex resource conservation processes that may give rise to subordinates' abuse perceptions.

Perceptions of abusive supervision: The role of subordinates' attribution styles

This study explores the roles of subordinates’ individual differences in predicting their perceptions of abusive supervision. We controlled supervisor behavior via a video vignette to assess if subjects perceived the same supervisor behavior differently. A sample of 756 working adults revealed that subjects’ hostile attribution styles, negative affectivity, entitlement, trait anger, and external locus of control directly predicted perceptions of abusive supervision while self-efficacy and internal locus of control did not. Attributions for performance failures mediated the relationships between hostile attribution style, self-efficacy, entitlement, external and internal locus of control and perceptions of abusive supervision. These results extend abusive supervision research by controlling for differences in supervisory behavior and demonstrating that individual differences influence subjects’ perceptions of abuse. Attribution research is extended by demonstrating that hostile attribution styles predict a...

PurposeThis study investigates whether subordinates who rate their managers higher on narcissism are also more likely to view their managers as abusive. In particular, the study explores the extent to which managers whom subordinates rate higher on narcissism use certain behaviors (self-promotion and unpredictability) that mediate the relationship between narcissism and perceived abuse.Design/methodology/approachSurvey participants (n = 949) rated their most-destructive manager in terms of self-promotion, unpredictability, narcissism and abusiveness. A bootstrap analysis assessed the positive, mediating effects of leader self-promotion and unpredictability on the narcissism–abuse relationship.FindingsDegree of perceived supervisor narcissism predicted subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision. However, the supervisor's self-promotion activities and unpredictability fully mediated this relationship.Research limitations/implicationsThis study identifies perceived narcissism as an antecedent of abusive supervision and identifies two mediators relevant to subordinates' perceptions of abuse. Using multiple methods and multiple sources, the authors recommend that scholars identify additional mediators. Further research should consider variables such as gender, organizational culture and occupational status.Practical implicationsFindings highlight how subordinates connect supervisor narcissism to abuse; this allows human resource practitioners to better predict and address subordinates' perceptions of their managers and to design interventions for improving supervisors' behaviors.Originality/valueThis study helps in explaining destructive leadership by empirically examining perceptions of narcissism as a driver of abusive supervision. Also, the study reveals the characteristics of narcissistic managers that impede productive relationships with subordinates.

PurposeIn response to the call for deeper investigation of abusive supervision (Martinko et al., 2013), the purpose of this paper is to examine perceived supervisor competence and perceived employee mobility (an individual’s perception of his/her ability to obtain new employment) to better understand contextual and individual factors that potentially influence the degree of harmful supervisory behaviors experienced by employees.Design/methodology/approachResponses from 749 survey participants were analyzed to determine the impact of perceived supervisor competence and perceived employee mobility on perceptions of abusive supervisory conduct. A bootstrapping-based mediation analysis (Hayes, 2012) was used to test for mediation by the variables of interest.FindingsThe authors found that perceived supervisor competence is associated with weakened perceptions of abusive supervision, and that this relationship is partially mediated by respondents’ perceived occupational mobility.Research limitations/implicationsThe data are cross-sectional and were collected with a self-report questionnaire and compiled utilizing student-enumerators. The sample was also regional in scope and lacked information that would indicate if respondents were also supervisors.Practical implicationsThese results imply that perceptions of abusive supervision can be mitigated by building stronger competencies in supervisors, which translates into greater individual employee perceived mobility. Human resource (HR) professionals can implement practices to decrease the likelihood of abusive supervisory conduct by ensuring that supervisors are competent in their jobs, facilitating a coaching/mentoring process between supervisors and subordinates and establishing/maintaining an effective developmental performance feedback process for supervisors.Social implicationsSince perceived supervisor competence is one element of reducing abusive conduct, while also enhancing subordinate perceived mobility, selection and training efforts should focus on hiring and preparing individuals to be effective work supervisors. Enhancing worker capabilities and marketability may result in greater perceived occupational mobility and reduced perceptions of abuse by supervisors.Originality/valueThese results lend support to the argument that perceptions of abusive supervision can be mitigated by building stronger competencies in supervisors, which translates into greater perceived mobility among employees. Organizations may benefit through lowered employee turnover, employees may enjoy more harmonious, supportive relationships with their supervisors and HR staff may benefit by having competent supervisors who do not generate employee complaints and intentions to quit.

Prior abusive supervision research focuses on subordinates’ perceptions of abusive supervision. Recent research suggests that a variety of factors may be related to these perceptions, including subordinates’ self-esteem, personality traits, and negative affectivity, as well as supervisors’ perceptions of justice and breaches of psychological contracts. In this article, the authors propose and argue that a significant proportion of the variance in members’ perceptions of abuse by their leaders can be explained by the interactions of leaders’ and members’ attribution styles and that abuse perceptions may be considered to be a subset of subordinates’ perceptions of the quality of their leader–member exchange relationships. The authors also make the case that attribution styles affect the likelihood of abusive supervisory behavior as well as the perception of such behaviors.

This study is designed to explore and identify the impact of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions on employees’ perception of their supervisory abuse in a cross-cultural context e.g. Australia and Pakistan. This study is aconceptual and a literature review in nature, since the aim was to highlight and identify with the help of prior research the impact of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions on the employees’ perception of their supervisory abuse in a western and eastern cultural context e.g. Australia and Pakistan. The researcher with the help of literature review developed some propositions that show the impact of these cultural dimensions on employees’ perceptionof abusive supervision in two different cultural contexts that can play a vital role in moderating employees’ perception of supervisory abuse in a cross-cultural context e.g. Australia and Pakistan. The paper concludes that although abusive supervision exist in almost all countries and cultures but the intensity of abusive supervision and the subordinate’s perception of their supervisory abuse is based upon their cultural values and norms which play an important role in shaping their perception regarding their supervisory abuse. The researcher has presented the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions comparison table which distinguished these two countries e.g. Australia and Pakistan on multiple dimensions from each other and furthermore, it provide an important future research direction for an empirical investigation of subordinate’s perception of supervisory abuse in these two countries e.g. Australia and Pakistan. Furthermore, study limitations and future research directions have alsobeen discussed in this paper.

This study examines whether subordinates’ perceptions of abusive supervision mediate the relationship between subordinate personality and aggression. Results from a cross-organizational sample of 411 working adults suggest that subordinates’ perceptions of abusive supervision account for some of the variance in the relationships between subordinate Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, and subordinate aggression. This study suggests that social-information processing and perceptions of control found within subordinates’ personality influences whether they are more or less likely to perceive supervisory abuse. Perceptions of supervisory abuse were associated with aggression.

Employee learning for competence development is more salient for today’s organizations facing frequent changes from inside and outside, and accordingly, employees’ learning goal orientation (LGO) is noteworthy. This study examines how and why employees’ LGO relates to leadership effectiveness, i.e., employees’ perception of abusive supervision. Competing hypotheses and the mediating mechanisms of a work attitude from LGO, i.e., work enjoyment, and a work behavior from LGO, i.e., compliance behavior, were proposed. In a three-wave panel survey, 304 employees in a variety of occupations completed questionnaires. Results indicate LGO had a negative relationship with abusive supervision and employees with higher LGO had more enjoyment of work, and in turn, less perception of abusive supervision. The positive LGO-abusive supervision relationship was not empirically supported. While employees with higher LGO had less compliance behavior, this reduced compliance did not lead to increased abusive supervision. Hence, the suggestion is that supervisors should let subordinates feel that by performing required tasks, subordinates are learning by doing to facilitate leadership effectiveness. This study uses intrinsic motivation perspective to address an underlying process by which LGO manifests itself in an interpersonal and managerial outcome, abusive supervision. The findings suggest intrinsically motivated actions may mitigate negative perception of supervisors’ interactions. Employees’ intrinsic motivation at work may be a stance to understand their workplace interactions. Goal orientation is an important factor in leadership. Literature shows leaders’ LGO facilitates leadership effectiveness. Corresponding to emerging importance of followers in leadership effectiveness, this study found subordinates’ LGO facilitated their perception of leadership effectiveness in terms of reduced perception of supervisory behavior as abuse. In addition, this study enriches abusive supervision literature by corresponding to a call for examining the characteristics of subordinate and the work in concert to complement the limited work on understanding abusive supervision. Suggestions for future study are provided.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether employees’ personalities are associated with their perceptions of abusive supervision.Design/methodology/approach– In total, 756 working adults provided data. Subjects’ began by taking personality assessments and then received a performance evaluation via a video role-play. Subjects then provided their perceptions of how abusive the supervisor was. The data were analyzed with regression analysis.Findings– The results illustrated that respondents’ hostile attribution styles, negative affectivity, trait anger, and entitlement were positively and significantly associated with perceptions of abusive supervision.Research limitations/implications– The results imply that judgments of supervisory abuse and interventions to ameliorate the negative consequences associated with abusive supervision should consider subordinates’ characteristics.Originality/value– This study controlled supervisor behavior via a video vignette to assess how multiple subordinates’ perceive the same supervisor behavior. This study contributes to a more complete understanding of how personality is associated with perceptions of abusive supervision.

PurposeDrawing on the dual process model of ideology and prejudice, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether, how and when a supervisor's Machiavellianism leads to subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision. In doing so, the authors also explore the mediating role of the supervisor's competitive world views and the moderating role of subordinates' performance on this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe theoretical model was tested using three sources of data from supervisors, their subordinates and the organization. Hierarchical linear model analysis was run on supervisor and subordinate dyadic data for testing whether subordinates' performance moderated the mediated relationships or not.FindingsThe results suggest that the supervisors' competitive worldviews explain the positive link between their Machiavellianism and subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision. The results highlight that the mediation effect of supervisors' competitive worldviews on the link between their Machiavellianism and their subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision is more pronounced when subordinates' performance is low than when it is high.Research limitations/implicationsThis research contributes to the authors’ knowledge of the link between supervisors' Machiavellianism and abusive supervision, and how the toxic influence of their Machiavellianism is mediated by supervisors' competitive worldviews.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature on abusive supervision and personality by studying the role of personality as an antecedent of abusive supervision. Further, this study used subordinates' performance as a contextual variable for understanding abusive supervision.

SummaryTrait and state self‐regulation both have critical influences on workplace behavior, but their influences are thought to operate quite differently. We draw from social exchange and ego depletion theories to investigate the relationship between trait and state self‐regulation, as well as how they differentially affect the relationship between subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision and job tension. Specifically, we examine (a) how the interaction between abusive supervision and trait self‐regulation affects job tension and (b) how state self‐regulation mediates the relationship between abusive supervision and job tension. Using 3 studies that include an experiment (n = 81) and 2 field studies with cross‐sectional (n = 157) and time‐separated (n = 109) data, we demonstrate that the interaction between abusive supervision and trait self‐regulation increases experienced job tension for subordinates who report higher levels of abusive supervision and trait self‐regulation than others. Also, we provide evidence that abusive supervision is indirectly associated with job tension through state self‐regulation. This study's findings have important implications for abusive supervision and self‐regulation research, as well as social exchange and ego depletion theories, because we extend our understanding of how trait and state self‐regulation affect cognitive responses associated with abusive supervision.

There is a growing interest in understanding how follower reactions toward abusive leadership are shaped by followers' perceptions and attributions. Our studies add to the understanding of the process happening between different levels of leaders' abusive behavior (from constructive leadership as control, laissez-faire, mild to strong abusive) and follower reactions. Specifically, we focus on the role of perception of abusive supervision as a mediator and attribution as a moderator of the relationship between leader abusive behavior and follower reactions. Follower reactions are defined in terms of exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect. Two studies using a two point experimental design and vignettes and a cross-sectional field study were conducted. Perception partly mediates the relationship between leader behavior and reactions (Study 1 and 2). Different attributions (intention, control) moderate the relationship between the perception of abusive supervision and reactions in Study 2 and 3. In Study 2, attribution of intentionality of the leader behavior served as a moderator of the relationship between abusive supervision and loyalty, turnover, and voice. Attribution of intentionality reduced the relationship between perception of abusive supervision and reactions. Attribution of intentionality only strengthened negative reactions when milder abusive leadership was perceived. These results were not supported in Study 3. However, in Study 3, attribution to the supervisor' control served as moderator for loyalty and voice. A stronger relationship between the perception of abusive supervision and reactions emerged for high vs. for low attribution to the supervisor. The differences in results between the studies reflect that in Study 1 and 2 abusive behavior was manipulated and in Study 3 the perception of abusive supervision of actual leaders was assessed. Our findings show that avoidance of abusive supervision should be taken seriously and followers' perception and suffering is not only due to subjective judgment but reflects actual differences in behavior. The relationships are stronger in the field study, because, in practice, abusive behaviors might be more ambiguous. The research presented here can help leaders to better understand their own and the followers' role in the perception of and reaction to abusive supervision.

This paper examines the role of subordinates’ entitlement, perceptions of abusive supervision, and felt accountability on their propensity to bully others in the workplace. A mediated moderation analysis of a multi-industry sample of 396 employees suggests that employees’ entitlement is indirectly associated with bullying behaviors through perceptions of abusive supervision, and is stronger for employees with lower levels of felt accountability. These results suggest that subordinates’ individual differences influence their perceptions of supervisory abuse and are associated with their propensity to engage in bullying behaviors in the workplace, conditional upon their felt accountability. Contributions of the research to scholarship and practice, strengths and limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

Research on abusive supervision is imbalanced in two ways. First, with most research attention focused on the destructive consequences of abusive supervision, there has been relatively little work on subordinate-related predictors of perceptions of abusive supervision. Second, with most research on abusive supervision centered on its main effects and the moderating effects of supervisor-related factors, there is little understanding of how subordinate factors can moderate the main effects of perceptions of abusive supervision on workplace outcomes. The current study aims to advance knowledge of the roles of subordinates in the formation of and reactions to perceptions of abusive supervision. Specifically, based on victim precipitation theory, the authors examined subordinates’ personality traits and self-reports of task performance as antecedents of perceptions of abusive supervision. The results show that subordinates high in neuroticism or low in conscientiousness had high levels of perceived abusive supervision partially through their self-reported deleterious job performance. In addition, the authors investigated the moderating effect of subordinates’ personality on the relationship between perceptions of abusive supervision and subordinates’ interpersonal deviance. Consistent with trait activation theory, subordinates low in both agreeableness and extraversion were more likely to engage in deviant behaviors in response to perceptions of abusive supervision than subordinates high in either or both agreeableness and extraversion.