The mediating role of LMX between abusive supervision and work behaviors

Abstract

Purpose– In a replication of a multi-source study by Xuet al., the authors examined whether leader-member exchange (LMX) mediates the relationship between abusive supervision and employee work behaviors, more specifically task performance, organizational citizenship behaviors toward the organization (OCBO), and toward other individuals (OCBI). Moreover, the authors also examined whether LMX mediates this relationship when the authors focus on the two dimensions of abusive supervision, that is active-aggressive and passive-aggressive abusive supervision.Design/methodology/approach– The authors collected multi-source data in order to minimize common method bias. The authors conducted regression analyses, Sobel tests, and bootstrapping techniques.Findings– The authors found support that LMX mediates the negative relationship between abusive supervision and OCBO and OCBI. However, the authors could not replicate the mediating role of LMX in the association between abusive supervision and employees' performance. Similar results were obtained when the data were analyzed with the active-aggressive and passive-aggressive abusive supervision subscales.Research limitations/implications– Due to the cross-sectional nature of the study, this study does not allow the authors to draw causal conclusions regarding the proposed relationships.Originality/value– The authors replicated Xuet al.'s findings in a European context with a different sample and different measures for LMX, performance, and OCBI. The authors conducted bootstrapping analyses in order to control for the skewed distribution of abusive supervision. The authors explore whether the proposed relations still stand with regard to active-aggressive and passive-aggressive abusive supervision.