Why and When Abusive Supervision Harms Voice: A Matter of Trust and Employee Regulatory Focus

Abstract

Drawing on social exchange theory and affective / cognitive trust dimensions, this study examined the negative relationship and the underlying mechanism of abusive supervision on employee voice. Using data collected from 283 supervisor-employee dyads, the current study found that only affective trust in supervisor substantially mediated the relationship between abusive supervision and voice. Though abusive supervision has negative impact on both affective trust and cognitive trust, a mediating effect of cognitive trust was insignificant. Damage to the two types of trust turned out to have different effects on voice. Furthermore, applying a moderated mediation model and regulatory focus theory, this study investigated that employee regulatory focus moderates the strength of the indirect effect of abusive supervision on employee voice via affective trust. Concretely, promotion-focused employees less suffer from the negative impact of abusive supervision on voice, while the moderating effect of prevention-focus was rejected. Theoretical and practical implications, and limitations are discussed.