Abusive Supervision Research Research Articles

Using indirect survey techniques to investigate the relationship between employee personal experience of abusive supervision and job performance

PurposeTo propose the use of indirect survey protocols, in general and the item count technique (ICT), in particular, that ensure participant anonymity in organizations to explore the effect of employee perceived abusive supervision on job performance.Design/methodology/approachWe apply ICT to a sample of 363 employees (52.6% female) from Greek organizations. Utilizing multivariate statistical techniques, we investigated how employees assess the impact of their personal encounters with abusive supervision on job performance. This approach allowed us to explore the percentage of employees perceiving negative effects on job performance, distinguishing our study from previous studies that primarily focus on quantifying the extent or magnitude of abusive supervision in organizational settings. Also, we investigated how employee socio-demographic characteristics, human capital characteristics and affective traits relate to the evaluation of experienced abusive supervision as a negative factor for their job performance.FindingsWe found that approximately 62% of the respondents evaluated personal experience of abusive supervision as negatively affecting their job performance. We also found that the likelihood of employees evaluating personal experience of abusive supervision as having a negative impact on their job performance is: (1) higher for female employees, (2) does not depend on employee age, job tenure and education; (3) is lower for employees with managerial roles and (4) increases with employee trait negative affectivity.Originality/valueThe study is a response to the call for researchers to use innovative methods for advancing abusive supervision research. The study highlights the significance of taking a proactive stance towards addressing abusive supervision in the workplace, by using indirect survey methods that ensures employee anonymity. The results have implications for organizational strategies aimed at increasing awareness of abusive supervision and its impact on employee performance.

The determinants of abusive supervision

Purpose On the basis of affective events theory, this study aims to examine the connection between work-related events (i.e. supervisor role ambiguity and role conflicts) and abusive supervision via emotion (i.e. supervisor frustration). This study also examines the moderating role of supervisor personality traits (i.e. neuroticism and conscientiousness). Design/methodology/approach This study collected lagged and multisource field data (472 subordinates and supervisors dyads) from the service organizations. Findings The data collected supported majority of this study’s hypothesized relationships regarding determinants of abusive supervision. Practical implications This study underlines what triggers supervisor abuse. This study also enables organizations with the intervention opportunity to reduce the effects of supervisor role ambiguity, role conflict, negative emotions and personality on triggering abusive supervision. Originality/value Prior research on abusive supervision has extensively focused on its outcomes, leaving a noteworthy research gap about what triggers abusive supervision. To fill this important gap in leadership literature, this study proposed and tested a research model of determinants of supervisor abuse. Thus, this study contributes to leadership and abusive supervision research. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Stigma by Association: The Unintended Interpersonal Consequences of Associating Oneself with an Abusive Supervisor

Extant abusive supervision research has predominantly studied its prevalence and destructive effects through the lens of victims, potential victims, or third-party observers who witness such mistreatments. In the present research, we examine a neglected group of individuals—employees who are able to develop high-quality relationships and are closely associated with their abusive supervisors. Drawing insights from the stigma-by-association literature, we conceptualize abusive supervision as a unique form of moral stigma that might result in unintended spillover effects. Specifically, we found that observers tend to perceive employees who are closely associated with an abusive supervisor to be less moral and trustworthy for seemingly sharing a similar set of unethical values and beliefs, even though this might not necessarily be true in reality. As a downstream consequence, these employees are subject to unintended interpersonal backlashes (i.e., withdrawal from helping behaviors) imposed by their fellow coworkers. Furthermore, we investigate the moderating role of voluntary motive attribution, revealing that those who were attributed to voluntarily associate themselves with abusive supervisors received the highest levels of interpersonal backlashes. Results from one pilot study, one multiwave survey study (Study 2), and three preregistered experiments (Studies 1, 3, 4) supported our full theoretical model. Our research adds new insights to the abusive supervision literature by introducing a new unintended consequence on a previously overlooked group of employees who are presumed to be shielded from the negative impact of abusive supervision. Funding: This work was supported by the Singapore Ministry of Education [Grant R-317-000-164-115]. Supplemental Material: The e-companion is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2023.1678 .

Abusive supervision: a systematic literature review

The interest generated by abusive supervision among researchers can be gauged from the fact that more than 140 articles on abusive supervision have been published by leading journals in the last five years alone. However, a comprehensive understanding of the same is lacking. As a result, we systematically reviewed 273 articles on abusive supervision published between 2000 and 2022. This enabled us to present five interrelated aspects of abusive supervision literature. First, we focus on the definitional issues associated with abusive supervision. Second, we examine two widely used abusive supervision scales. Third, we review and critique different research designs utilized in abusive supervision studies. Fourth, we look at the key theories underpinning abusive supervision research and map the nomological network of abusive supervision. Fifth, we suggest novel avenues for theoretical advancement. In sum, we endeavored to portray a detailed picture of research on abusive supervision.

A Synthetic Review of the Workplace Bullying, Abusive Supervision, and Mobbing Literatures

Bullying at work is both widely prevalent and harmful for victims. This article aims to provide the most comprehensive and systemic analysis of workplace bullying research to date by drawing on scholarship from across the social sciences. The review begins by analyzing different definitions of workplace bullying and argues for an advantageous definition of the concept. Next, a bibliometric science map of 1,425 articles (link) on workplace bullying is provided. This map reveals four research clusters of workplace bullying articles which are empirically distinguishable by their citation patterns: 1) Abusive Supervision research, 2) Applied Psychology bullying research, 3) Management bullying research, and 4) bullying research in Healthcare Settings. We argue these four sub-literatures are unnecessarily siloed by disciplinary boundaries. As such, our review synthesizes common themes and conclusions reached by these four communities into an overarching intellectual framework. Then, drawing on the review, the article suggests that the field has two major limitations – 1) a lack of evidence that would convince “bottom line realists” to reduce workplace bullying, and 2) largely ignoring the question of why people have different perceptions of whether workplace bullying has occurred. Future research opportunities to address these limitations are discussed.

License to Retaliate: Good Deeds as a Moral License for Misdeeds in Reaction to Abusive Supervision

ABSTRACT Abusive supervision research demonstrates that subordinates often engage in deviance following abuse despite the negative consequences of doing so. Drawing on moral licensing theory, we propose that the relationship between abusive supervision and deviance is moderated by the extent to which subordinates perform positive voluntary work behaviors. We further suggest that moral disengagement moderates this moral licensing effect and that this relationship will hold when controlling for social exchange principles. In Study 1, we found that the relationship between abusive supervision and organizational deviance was strengthened by high organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and was not significant at low levels of OCB. In Study 2, we found that the moral licensing effect was strengthened in individuals with a propensity to morally disengage, even when controlling for negative reciprocity beliefs and social exchange orientation. Implications for moral licensing and abusive supervision research are discussed.

Abusive Supervision: A Systematic Review and New Research Approaches

Abusive leaders affect employees’ emotions and health and produce counterproductive behaviors that cause economic damage to organizations. The literature has focused predominantly on the antecedents of abusive supervision and its negative impact, providing knowledge on mechanisms that link abusive supervision to consequences for subordinates. There has been limited research on the supervisor perspective, on the group level, and on recovery. This review makes three contributions: first, we examine the theoretical approaches used by previous research studies to understand abusive supervision. Second, we analyze the types of mechanisms that explain how and when an abusive supervision process occurs. Third, we identify and discuss applied methodologies and limitations. Based on the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis guidelines, and transactional well-being process perspective, we analyzed 171 empirical manuscripts and 239 samples between 2010 and July 2020. We identified a growth in abusive supervision research between 2018 and 2020 and found 101 different theories. Most of these theories view abusive supervision from a social, relational, or affective perspective, but seldom from an emotional perspective. We classified four types of mechanisms: simple relations between abusive supervision and antecedent-consequences (12), moderators (47), mediators (26), and a combination of mediators and moderators (86). We found that research has mostly been performed at the employee level or on dyads; studies that analyze the team level are rarely found. We identified two methodological problems: cross-sectional designs, which do not allow the analysis of its causality, and the increased risk of common method variance that may influence the results obtained via single-source data. In conclusion, the theories used have focused on employee perceptions, which have not enabled the broadening of the abusive supervision concept to include the supervisor’s perspective and a recovery-related perspective. Research on how and when abusive supervision occurs analyzed with complex mechanisms using emotional variables and appropriate daily methodologies has been scarce. We propose a theoretical expansion including emotional theories to uncover emotional consequences of abusive supervision and the recovery concept to provide a deeper insight into abusive supervision process. We contend that longitudinal and diary designs that include teams and supervisor levels are necessary.

Abusive supervision’s impact on work attitudes, considering leaving/quitting, self-efficacy, and performance? A preliminary study

ABSTRACT Abusive supervision involves several types of distinct and interrelated behaviors that have long been known to have damaging effects on employees. This relationship has been mainly found in quantitative studies. Therefore, few qualitative studies concerning abusive supervision exist, especially those asking targets of abusive supervision to write freely about their experience. In order to fill this lacuna in abusive supervision research, targets of such leadership practices were recruited from CloudResearch. Several important themes emerged when targets were asked to fully write about the impact that this deviant leadership style had on their work. First, targets of abusive supervision were most likely to note that the harassment had a negative impact on work attitudes. Second, abusive supervision increased targets’ perceptions regarding whether they considering leaving, in some cases, led them to quit altogether. Third, abusive supervision adversely impacted the self-efficacy of targets. Fourth, abusive supervision was found to have a negative impact on performance. Finally, the research extends previous studies by learning why abusive supervision had a negative impact on the aforementioned work-related outcomes. These results are thoroughly discussed in the article.

Abusive supervision: a content analysis of theory and methodology

PurposeDespite recent organizational behavior studies have witnessed considerable progress in abusive supervision research; some demerits for both theory and methodology still remain in the past years. To clarify the current state of knowledge in the field, this study aims to analyze the current state of theories and methods on abusive supervision and provides a detailed future research agenda.Design/methodology/approachThis paper conducted a literature review for both theory and methodology of the abusive supervision research using a content analysis of 134 publications.FindingsFor the theory part, this paper summarized the theories that had been applied to explain the relationship between abusive supervision and its consequences as well as antecedents. For the methodology part, this paper outlined some critical issues regarding country of origin, research design, measurement, analysis strategy and also summarized with a discussion of the relationship between methodological issues and article impact. Finally, this paper concluded by presenting an agenda for future abusive supervision research regarding both theory and methodology.Originality/valueFirst, this paper summarizes the main theories, antecedents and consequences often used in abusive supervision research to allow scholars to carry out theoretically driven research investigating abusive supervision in the future. Second, through a content analysis of the methods sections of abusive supervision research in the samples (i.e. country of origin, research design, measurement and analytical procedures), this paper identified the potential reasons underlying the inconsistency in the conclusions of abusive supervision research and provide some guidance for future empirical studies. Third, based on the qualitative review, this paper provides an agenda for future research investigating abusive supervision by developing a content-specific theoretical framework to benchmark abusive supervision research against other research related to leadership and offers an accurate response to scholars’ criticisms of abusive supervision research.

Abusive supervision: A systematic review and fundamental rethink

We report a systematic and critical review of abusive supervision research to provide a comprehensive catalogue of the correlates of abusive supervision (i.e., antecedents, outcomes, mediators, and moderators) and identify four major challenges facing the field. First, abusive supervision is conceptualized in a confused manner that conflates followers’ subjective evaluations of abuse with leaders’ behaviors. Second, we consider how conceptual confusion is reflected in and undermines dominant measurement tools. Third, we identify and critique overreliance on cross-sectional survey-based studies and vignette experiments, which vary considerably in the extent to which they can evidence causal effects. Fourth, we consider the fact that abusive supervision is a low base rate phenomenon (i.e., is rarely reported). Using novel and simulated data we demonstrate that most past research is ill-equipped to make claims about the effects of intermediate or high levels of abusive supervision. Throughout, we explain how each challenge limits past research and offer achievable recommendations for a fundamental rethink of abusive supervision. In the discussion, we synthesize the recommendations for rethinking the conceptualization, measurement, and empirical study of abusive supervision. Only by overcoming these challenges will future research be robust enough to provide meaningful theoretical advances and useful policy implications.

눈에는 눈 이에는 이? 비인격적 감독에 있어 상사에 대한 부하의 연민과 용서

Based on the atturibution theory, the purpose of this study is to show that subordinates who attribute abusive supervision to supervisors will strengthen their anger toward supervisor and supervisor-directed aggression, but those who attribute it to themselves will be positive in their sympathy and forgiveness for supervisor. It is meaningful to understand the emotions and behaviors of subordinates who respond to the stimulus of abusive supervision in relation to the understanding of the cause of events (abusive supervision), which is the core of attribution theory. Thus, we tested a moderated mediation model predicting various feelings and reactions given the attribution targets of abused subordinates. Using the survey responses of 329 participants, this study found that perception of abusive supervision was positively related to forgiveness for supervisor through its association with sympathy for supervisor. We also found that self-directed attribution moderated the indirect effects for forgiveness for supervisor through the sympathy for supervisor. Our results demonstrate the relationship between various emotions and behaviors of subordinates resulting from abusive supervision, and provide theoretical implications, especially in testing the novel idea of subordinates’ sympathy and forgiveness for supervisors. Based on our results and implications, this study contributes to the field of abusive supervision research by showing the reason and mechanism for why some recipients of abuse are silent but others not.

The Third-Decade of Abusive Supervision Research: The Role of Time and Emotion

Since Tepper’s (2000) work, abusive supervision has emerged as a solid research area. The first decade of research was devoted to the understanding of prevalence and perniciousness of abusive supervision. Demonstrating that scholarly interest in this construct has never been higher, the second decade of abusive supervision research was characterized with a series of qualitative and quantitative reviews focusing on clarifying the boundaries of abusive supervision (e.g., Mackey, Frieder, Brees, & Martinko, 2017; Martinko, Harvey, Brees, & Mackey, 2013; Schyns & Schilling 2013; Tepper, Simon, & Park, 2017; Zhang, Liu, Xu, Yang, & Bednall, 2019). A notable advance in the literature is the emergence of theoretical works in the Academy of Management Review, extending the boundary of abusive supervision by building new theory (Chan & McAllister, 2014; Oh & Farh, 2017; Vogel & Bolino, in press). Each of the papers provides a new avenue to the third decade of abusive supervision by emphasizing two major perspectives: a deeper consideration of time-based processes and an emphasis on emotion-based processes. Both foci have been the subject of discussion among abusive supervision scholars to date, yet the relative newness of these trends leaves many questions to be answered. The papers in this symposium take on this challenge. Two focus on the issue of time in different ways (e.g., inconsistency, temporal focus), and all four take up the issue of how emotions work in the abusive supervision episode. Overall, this symposium seeks to continue this ongoing conversation inspired by this new theory and provide answers to outstanding questions, while also setting a research agenda for the future. Swinging Between Abuse and Non-Abuse Across Time: A Polynomial Regression Approach Presenter: Seoin Yoon; Texas A&M U., College Station Presenter: Joel Koopman; Texas A&M U. Presenter: Nikolaos E. Dimotakis; Oklahoma State U. Presenter: Juanita Kimiyo Forrester; Mercer U. Presenter: Lauren Simon; U. of Arkansas Presenter: Bennett J. Tepper; Ohio State U. Presenter: Lindie Hanyu Liang; Wilfrid Laurier U. Presenter: Douglas J. Brown; U. of Waterloo Time Matters: Revisiting the Performance Consequences of Abusive Supervision Presenter: Lingtao Yu; U. of British Columbia Presenter: Michelle K Duffy; U. of Minnesota Presenter: Wu Wei; Wuhan U. Coping with Abuse: The Neutralizing Effects of Emotional Expressivity and Perspective Taking Presenter: Monique Alexandria Alvarez Domingo; U. of Connecticut Presenter: Jo K. Oh; U. of Connecticut Presenter: You Jin Kim; City U. of Hong Kong Presenter: Zhenyu Liao; Northeastern U. Presenter: Sunwook Chung; Sogang U. Social Information Processing and Third Party Reactions to Abusive Supervision Presenter: Chenduo Du; U. of Kentucky Presenter: Jie Li; Hong Kong U. of Science and Technology Presenter: Huiwen Lian; U. of Kentucky Presenter: Lance Ferris; Michigan State U. Presenter: Jingzhou Pan; Tianjin U.

Visualizing the Landscape of Abusive Supervision: A Bibliometric Analysis

We conduct a bibliometric analysis of abusive supervision as a valuable supplement to prior quantitative and qualitative reviews. Our bibliometric review provides a systematic perspective by portraying the landscape and developmental trajectory of abusive supervision research over time both in Asia-Pacific region and other contexts. Based on the co-citation and co-occurrence analyses, we detect the landmark documents, major themes with multiple theories, the developmental trajectory, intellectual structure and research trends within the abusive supervision literature. We also find abusive supervision confronts with cultural adaptability and has different evolving trajectory in Asia-Pacific region. Thus we provide a quick and comprehensive understanding of what happens in abusive supervision area, how it evolves over time and where we are going in future according to the bibliometric review.

When a proximate starts to gossip

PurposeBased on revenge theory and the three objectives of social interaction theory of aggression, the purpose of this paper is to develop a framework to answer why and when a subordinate’s own behaviour instigates abuse at the workplace. In particular, the authors argue that subordinate gossip behaviour instils in supervisors a thought of revenge towards that subordinate, which, in turn, leads to abusive supervision. Specifically, this hypothesised relationship is augmented when the supervisor feels close to the gossiper (i.e. psychological proximity).Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted two independent studies to test the moderated mediation model, which collectively investigate why and when subordinate gossip behaviour provokes abusive supervision in the workplace. A lagged study (i.e. Study 1: 422 supervisors and subordinates) in a large retail company and an experience sampling study (i.e. Study 2: 96 supervisors and subordinates with 480 daily surveys) in multiple organisations provide support for the moderated mediation model.FindingsThe two-study (i.e. a lagged study and an experience sampling study) findings support the integrated model, which has mainly focussed on instrumental consideration of abusive supervision that influences the supervisor–subordinate relationship.Originality/valueThe two-study investigation has important and meaningful implications for abusive supervision research because it determines that subordinate gossip behaviour is more threating to a supervisor when the subordinate and the supervisor are psychological close to each other than when they are not. That is because when they are close, the supervisor is not expecting gossip behaviour from the subordinate, thus giving rise to an abusive workplace.

Examining links between abusive supervision, PsyCap, LMX and outcomes

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a moderated mediation model wherein abusive supervision predicts subordinate’s stress and turnover intentions through Psychological Capital (PsyCap). Leader–member exchange (LMX) moderates the abusive supervision-outcome relationship through PsyCap.Design/methodology/approachTwo wave data were collected from 1,193 full-time employees across organizations in India.FindingsResults suggest that abusive supervision is significantly related to intention to quit and perceive stress, and this relationship is partially mediated by PsyCap. The findings from the moderated mediation analysis revealed that the mediation of PsyCap was moderated by LMX such that at the higher levels of LMX, the mediation effect of PsyCap on workout comes became stronger.Research limitations/implicationsAs the study did not cover all sectors, the results of this study should be interpreted with caution.Originality/valueEmbedded in the conservation of resources theory, this study adds to the knowledge of how abusive supervision and LMX jointly affect PsyCap, turnover intentions and perceived stress. The results of this study indicate that abusive supervision exerts its influence on work-related outcomes and highlights the importance of taking the quality of relationship (LMX) with supervisor and personal resources into consideration when making sense of the influence of abusive supervision with employee outcomes. The study extends the current research stream of abusive supervision research to one of the underrepresented developing Asian countries, India.

The impact of abusive supervision on employees’ feedback avoidance and subsequent help-seeking behaviour: A moderated mediation model

AbstractBased on the conservation of resource theory, this study investigated a moderated mediation model in which perceived co-worker support moderated the mediation of supervisory feedback avoidance between abusive supervision and help-seeking behaviour. Data from matching dyads of 220 house officers and 86 postgraduate medical staff were collected from several hospitals in Pakistan. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses supported the hypothesized model that abusive supervision first positively led to supervisory feedback avoidance, which in turn positively led to help-seeking from co-workers. Moreover, the mediating effect of supervisory feedback avoidance was stronger at the high value of co-worker support than that at the low value of co-worker support. This study contributes to the recently emerged notion in abusive supervision research that supervisees’ perception of abusive supervision may not always lead to abundantly reported negative work behaviours; instead, it may also lead to positive work behaviours, such as help-seeking behaviour that is highly beneficial for both supervisees and the organization.

New Perspectives in Abusive Supervision Research

Abusive supervision, defined as “the sustained display of hostile verbal and nonverbal behaviors from supervisors” (Tepper, 2000, p. 178), has received increasing attention by scholars since Tepper...

Victim and Culprit? The Effects of Entitlement and Felt Accountability on Perceptions of Abusive Supervision and Perpetration of Workplace Bullying

Although workplace bullying is common and has universally harmful effects on employees’ outcomes, little is known about workplace bullies. To address this gap in knowledge, we draw from the tenets of social exchange and displaced aggression theories in order to develop and test a model of workplace bullying that incorporates the effects of employees’ individual differences (i.e., entitlement), perceptions of their work environments (i.e., felt accountability), and perceptions of supervisory treatment (i.e., perceptions of abusive supervision) on their tendencies to bully coworkers. The results of mediated moderation analyses that examine responses from two samples of working adults (n Sample 1 = 396; n Sample 2 = 123) support our hypotheses. Specifically, we find evidence of an indirect relationship between entitlement and coworker bullying through perceptions of abusive supervision that is stronger for employees who report lower levels of felt accountability than employees who report higher levels of felt accountability. This study makes important theoretical and practical contributions to abusive supervision research, bullying research, and organizational efforts to promote ethical work environments devoid of interpersonal mistreatment by providing novel insight into how employees’ entitlement and felt accountability combine to influence their tendencies to perceive themselves as victims of abusive supervision and culprits of coworker bullying.

Relational and Emotional Theories of Abusive Supervision: An Integration and Theoretical Model

Abusive supervision research has burgeoned over the last decade. Abusive supervision studies have consistently linked abusive supervision with follower outcomes. However, the literature suffers fro...

Antecedents of Abusive Supervision: a Meta-analytic Review

Recent studies of organizational behavior have witnessed a growing interest in unethical leadership, leading to the development of abusive supervision research. Given the increasing interest in the causes of abusive supervision, this study proposes an organizing framework for its antecedents and tests it using meta analysis. Based on an analysis of effect sizes drawn from 74 studies, comprising 30,063 participants, the relationship between abusive supervision and different antecedent categories are examined. The results generally support expected relationships across the four categories of abusive antecedents, including: supervisor related antecedents, organization related antecedents, subordinate related antecedents, and demographic characteristics of both supervisors and subordinates. In addition, possible moderators that can also influence the relationships between abusive supervision and its antecedents are also examined. The significance and implications of different level factors in explaining abusive supervision are discussed.