Roles of gender and identification on abusive supervision and proactive behavior

Abstract

Drawing upon social identity theory, we investigate how subordinates’ perceived insider status within an organization may relate to abusive supervision and their proactive behavior. In addition, based on social role theory, we examine the moderating role of subordinate gender in this framework. Using a sample of 350 supervisor–subordinate dyads from an IT group corporation, we found that abusive supervision was negatively related to subordinates’ proactive behavior, and that subordinates’ perceived insider status mediated this relationship. Results also show that subordinate gender moderated the negative relationship between abusive supervision and perceived insider status, such that it was stronger for female than for male subordinates. This study highlights the pivotal roles of subordinates’ gender and identification in the consequences of abusive supervision at work.