Social Undermining Research Articles

‘It’s a dark cloud’: experiences of social undermining among people living with HIV in New Mexico

ABSTRACTSocial undermining as a strong predictor of adverse health outcomes in people living with HIV (PLWH), yet little is known about the experiences that constitute social undermining in this population. We led community-engaged research to identify and understand experiences of social undermining of PLWH in largely rural, minority-majority Southwestern communities. While past research focused on stigma-related experiences, participants in this study also told stories that shared their feelings of being undermined by lack of patient-centered care that they did not attribute to stigma, but to bureaucratic and impersonal service provision that marginalized them. These experiences create stress and serve as barriers for participants’ well-being and care. By bringing to the front experiences and mechanisms of social undermining, these findings advance theory, research, and practice regarding social undermining and living with HIV in diverse communities.

Discrete emotions linking abusive supervision to employee intention and behavior

AbstractDrawing on appraisal theories of discrete emotions, we propose and test a model in which abusive supervision directed toward oneself and toward work unit peers (coworker abusive supervision) are interactively related to generalized feelings of shame, anger, and fear. These discrete emotions, in turn, tend to precipitate distinct responses that do not directly target the supervisor. We tested our hypotheses with a three‐wave, time‐lagged survey of 285 full‐time workers from 55 work units. Consistent with our theorizing, supervisory abuse was associated with stronger feelings of shame while at work when the abusive supervision reported by one's coworkers was lower (vs. higher), whereas abuse had a stronger association with anger when coworkers also perceived relatively high levels of abuse. The distinct action tendencies associated with shame and anger are related to employees engaging in less voice behavior and more interpersonal deviance, respectively, and fear is related to higher turnover intentions. We discuss the study's implications for theory development concerning abusive supervision.

Job Insecurity and Abusive Supervision

Because of increased market uncertainty, employers today often do not guarantee job security and employees increasingly perceive such a state, often with trepidation. Employees who have relatively insecure jobs tend to feel mistreated by their managers. This study examines the relationship between the work places where jobs are mostly insecure and employee perception of abusive supervision, and the moderating role of a relational mechanism of perceived social worth at work. The conservation of resources (COR) perspective is used to guide analysis. This perspective provides competing rationales for employee acquisition/preservation of resources and ensuing abusive supervision. In a two-wave panel survey, 271 full-time employees with various occupations completed two questionnaires. Results indicate that job insecurity is positively associated with abusive supervision. This association is stronger for employees who perceive higher social worth at work. There is limited research investigating how managerial/leadership effectiveness varies in workplaces where job’s are insecure. Moreover, a relational mechanism of social worth has rarely been used to examine the phenomenon of job insecurity. Although literature shows employees’ perception of job insecurity leads them to increase work input/effort to make themselves more valuable and worthy of remaining in the organization, this does not mean that they will be more likely to notions such as management prerogative on their employer’s authority. Ironically, leadership, in particular, tends to be undermined when jobs are insecure as our findings show that insecure subordinates tend to perceive themselves experiencing supervisory abuse. To address this malaise, practical implications for organizations, supervisors, and subordinates are proposed and complementary practices are discussed to differentiate high social-worth employees from others.

The roles of cognitive avoidance, rumination and negative affect in the association between abusive supervision in the workplace and non-clinical paranoia in a sample of workers working in France

This study examined the relationship between abusive supervision and non-clinical paranoia and explored which cognitive mechanisms are mediating this association (i.e. rumination, cognitive avoidance and negative affect). A sample of two hundred and five French-speaking workers currently in employment in France was recruited to fill in a battery of online questionnaires comprising of the French adaptations of the Abusive Supervision Scale, the State Social Paranoia Scales, the Depression and Anxiety and Stress Scales, the Cognitive Avoidance Questionnaire and the Mini-Cambridge Exeter Repetitive Thought Scale. Mediation analyses showed that the experience of supervisory abuse directly influences state paranoia, however, there were significant mediation effects. Abusive supervision impacted on cognitive avoidance that led to more rumination, which in its turn increased negative affect and this increased state paranoia. Rumination impacted on state paranoia but through the effect of negative affect only. This study showed that abusive supervision works together with cognitive and affective factors to impact on non-clinical paranoia. It is recommended that Cognitive and Behavioural therapy (CBT) is tailored to help workers to cope with experiences of supervisory abuse and associated paranoid thoughts by focusing on replacing rumination and cognitive avoidance strategies for more adaptive cognitive strategies and on how to manage depression.

PTSD Symptoms and Acute Pain in the Emergency Department: The Roles of Vulnerability and Resilience Factors Among Low-income, Inner-city Women.

Given high levels of traumatic stress for low-income, inner-city women, investigating the link between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and pain is especially important. Using the conservation of resources theory, we investigated direct and indirect relationships of PTSD symptoms, vulnerability factors (ie, resource loss, depressive symptoms, and social undermining), and resilience factors (ie, optimism, engagement, and social support) to acute pain reports in a sample of low-income, inner-city women. Participants (N=341; mean age=28 y; 58.0% African American) were recruited from an inner-city Emergency Department following presentation with acute pain. Study data were gathered from psychosocial questionnaires completed at a baseline interview. Structural equation modeling examined direct and indirect relationships among PTSD symptoms, vulnerability factors, and resilience factors on self-reported pain intensity and pain interference. PTSD symptoms were directly related to higher pain intensity and pain interference and indirectly related through positive associations with vulnerability factors (all Ps<0.05). Pathways through resilience factors were not supported. Results suggest that presence of PTSD symptoms is associated with elevated acute pain responses both indirectly via psychosocial vulnerability factors and directly, independent of the psychosocial factors assessed. Resilience factors did not play a significant role in determining acute pain responses. Consistent with conservation of resources theory, the negative effects of vulnerability factors outweighed the positive effects of resilience factors.

Race, psychosocial vulnerability and social support differences in inner-city women's symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder

ABSTRACTBackground/Objectives: Inner-city Black women may be more susceptible to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than White women, although mechanisms underlying this association are unclear. Living in urban neighborhoods distinguished by higher chronic stress may contribute to racial differences in women's cognitive, affective, and social vulnerabilities, leading to greater trauma-related distress including PTSD. Yet social support could buffer the negative effects of psychosocial vulnerabilities on women's health. Methods/Design: Mediation and moderated mediation models were tested with 371 inner-city women, including psychosocial vulnerability (i.e., catastrophizing, anger, social undermining) mediating the pathway between race and PTSD, and social support moderating psychosocial vulnerability and PTSD. Results: Despite comparable rates of trauma, Black women reported higher vulnerability and PTSD symptoms, and lower support compared to White Hispanic and non-Hispanic women. Psychosocial vulnerability mediated the pathway between race and PTSD, and social support moderated vulnerability, reducing negative effects on PTSD. When examining associations by race, the moderation effect remained significant for Black women only. Conclusions: Altogether these psychosocial vulnerabilities represent one potential mechanism explaining Black women's greater risk of PTSD, although cumulative psychosocial vulnerability may be buffered by social support. Despite higher support, inner-city White women's psychosocial vulnerability may actually outweigh support's benefits for reducing trauma-related distress.

Supervisor Abuse Effects on Subordinate Turnover Intentions and Subsequent Interpersonal Aggression: The Role of Power-Distance Orientation and Perceived Human Resource Support Climate

Despite mounting evidence that abusive supervision triggers interpersonal aggression, much remains unknown regarding the underlying causal mechanisms within this relationship. We explore the role of turnover intentions as a mediator in the relationship between abusive supervision and subsequent supervisor-rated interpersonal aggression. We use a sample of 324 supervisor–subordinate dyads from nine organizations and find support for this mediation effect. Furthermore, we find that (low) power-distance orientation and (high) perceived human resource (HR) support climate, as important boundary conditions, independently interact with abusive supervision to weaken this positive impact on turnover intentions, thereby reducing interpersonal aggression. We also find via turnover intentions that abusive supervision intensifies interpersonal aggression among high power-distance-oriented individuals when the HR support climate is perceived to be low. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Social support, social undermining, and acute clinical pain in women: Mediational pathways of negative cognitive appraisal and emotion.

Women may be disproportionately vulnerable to acute pain, potentially due to their social landscape. We examined whether positive and negative social processes (social support and social undermining) are associated with acute pain and if the processes are linked to pain via negative cognitive appraisal and emotion (pain catastrophizing, hyperarousal, anger). Psychosocial variables were assessed in inner-city women (N = 375) presenting to an Emergency Department with acute pain. The latent cognitive-emotion variable fully mediated social undermining and support effects on pain, with undermining showing greater impact. Pain may be alleviated by limiting negative social interactions, mitigating risks of alternative pharmacological interventions.

Caging the Green-Eyed Monster: Culture, Relational Mobility and Envy Expression

Envy is a universally experienced emotion, yet people across cultures may express envy differently. We propose that although envious individuals across cultures morally disengage, the ways in which individuals respond to specific facets of moral disengagement are culturally-bounded. We introduce the concept of relational mobility – the extent to which one’s social environment provides opportunities to choose new relationships and terminate old ones – to understand why cultural differences may emerge in the expression of envy via social undermining and withdrawal behavior. In an experimental study (Study 1), we show that for Americans who perceive higher levels of relational mobility than Singaporeans, the positive relationship between envy, dehumanization – a specific facet of moral disengagement – and social undermining (i.e., an active negative behavior) is stronger. However, in a field study (Study 2), we show that for Taiwanese employees who perceive lower levels of relational mobility than American employees, the positive relationship between envy, distortion of consequences – another facet of moral disengagement – and withdrawal behavior (i.e., a passive negative behavior) is stronger. Our research suggests that cultural differences in relational mobility may moderate the expression of envy. Furthermore, our results show that certain facets of moral disengagement are more culturally-relevant than others in influencing how individuals respond to envy. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

Effect of Perceived Negative Workplace Gossip on Employees' Behaviors.

Negative workplace gossip generates social undermining and great side effects to employees. But, the damage of negative gossip is mainly aimed at the employee who perceived being targeted. The purpose of this study is to develop a conceptual model in which perceived negative workplace gossip influences employees in-role behavior and organizational citizenship behavior differentially by changing employees’ self-concept (organizational-based self-esteem and perceived insider status). 336 employees from seven Chinese companies were investigated for empirical analysis on proposed hypotheses, and results show that: (1) Perceived negative workplace gossip adversely influences employees’ IRB and OCB. (2) Self-concept (OBSE and PIS) plays a mediating role in the relationship between perceived negative workplace gossip and employees’ behaviors (IRB and OCB). (3) Employees’ hostile attribution bias moderates the relationship between perceived negative workplace gossip and self-concept (OBSE and PIS); and also moderates the mediating effect of self-concept (OBSE and PIS) on the relationship between perceived negative workplace gossip and employees’ behaviors (IRB and OCB). Thus, our findings provide deeper insights into the potential harmful effects of gossip. In addition, we help to explain the underlying mechanism and boundary condition of these effects.

Spanish Validation of the Shorter Version of the Workplace Incivility Scale: An Employment Status Invariant Measure.

Workplace Incivility (WI) occurs worldwide and has negative consequences on individuals and organizations. Valid and comprehensive instruments have been used, specifically in English speaking countries, to measure such adverse process at work, but it is not available a validated instrument for research carried out in Spanish speaking countries. In this study we aim to test the psychometric properties of the Matthews and Ritter’s four-item Workplace Incivility Scale (2016) with Spanish workers (N = 407) from different sectors. Participants’ mean age was 38.73 (SD = 10.45) years old and the percentage of female employees was 59.2%. Confirmatory factor analysis using AMOS 19.0 was carried out, presenting a good fit. The internal consistency, convergent and concurrent validity of the scale were examined. Results show good scale reliability and expected high correlations with social undermining. Moreover, the scale related to propensity to leave a job, job satisfaction, and psychological well-being in the expected way. After configural invariance across groups was established, testing for metric invariance and scalar invariance was performed. Considering Δχ2 and ΔCFI tests for two nested models, the 4-item scale was invariant when the employment status is considered (permanent vs. temporal, full-time vs. part-time, and supervisor vs. non-supervisors). Overall, our findings showed good psychometric properties of the shorter version of the WIS in Spain. Theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.

A pattern for conceptual extent and measurement of nurses social undermining

A pattern for conceptual extent and measurement of nurses social undermining

Keeping (future) rivals down: Temporal social comparison predicts coworker social undermining via future status threat and envy.

The extant social undermining literature suggests that employees envy and, consequently, undermine coworkers when they feel that these coworkers are better off and thus pose a threat to their own current status. With the present research, we draw on the sociofunctional approach to emotions to propose that an anticipated future status threat can similarly incline employees to feel envy toward, and subsequently undermine, their coworkers. We argue that employees pay special attention to coworkers' past development in relation to their own, because faster-rising coworkers may pose a future status threat even if they are still performing worse in absolute terms in the present. With a set of two behavioral experiments (N = 90 and N = 168), we establish that participants react to faster-rising coworkers with social undermining behavior when the climate is competitive (vs. less competitive). We extended these results with a scenario experiment (N = 376) showing that, in these situations, participants extrapolate lower future status than said coworker and thus respond with envy and undermining behavior. A two-wave field study (N = 252) replicated the complete moderated serial mediation model. Our findings help to explain why employees sometimes undermine others who present no immediate threat to their status. As such, we extend theorizing on social undermining and social comparison. (PsycINFO Database Record

Work‐Family Conflict and Hindrance Stress as Antecedents of Social Undermining: Does Ethical Leadership Matter?

Drawing upon self‐regulation theory, we propose that work‐family conflict (WFC) induces employee hindrance stress, which subsequently contributes to social undermining. Using a moderated‐mediation model, we also examine ethical leadership as a conditional moderator that affects the strength among the hypothesised relationships. The hypothesised model was tested using multisource field data (N = 156) from various industries. Results show that WFC has a positive indirect effect on social undermining through the mediation mechanism of hindrance stress. Additionally, high levels of ethical leadership alleviated the mediated relationship. Theoretical and practical implications as well as future research directions are also discussed.

“If Only My Coworker Was More Ethical”: When Ethical and Performance Comparisons Lead to Negative Emotions, Social Undermining, and Ostracism

Drawing on social comparison theory, we investigate employees’ ethical and performance comparisons relative to a similar coworker and subsequent emotional and behavioral responses. We test our theoretically driven hypotheses across two studies. Study 1, a cross-sectional field study (N = 310 employee–coworker dyads), reveals that employees who perceive they are more ethical than their coworkers (i.e., more ethical comparison) experience negative emotions toward the comparison coworkers and those feelings are even stronger when the employees perceive they are lower performers than their coworkers (i.e., lower-performance comparison). Results also reveal that negative emotions mediate the indirect relationship between being more ethical than a coworker, but also being a lower performer than that coworker onto (a) social undermining and (b) ostracism. Study 2, a 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design (N = 121), provides further support for our moderated mediation model. Results reveal that participants experience negative emotions when they receive information that they are more ethical than a comparison participant. Negative emotions are amplified if the participant is told they were a lower performer than the comparison participant. Those participants indicate their desire to mistreat and ignore the comparison participant if given the opportunity. Thus, we find support for our hypotheses using a multi-method design.

Supervisor to coworker social undermining: The moderating roles of bottom-line mentality and self-efficacy

AbstractThis research presents and tests a trickle-down model of social undermining in the workplace. Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study specifically demonstrates that supervisor social undermining is positively associated with coworker social undermining in the workplace. Furthermore, this study argues that employee bottom-line mentality will exacerbate the positive relationship between supervisor social undermining and coworker social undermining, whereas employee self-efficacy will buffer this positive relationship. Overall, our findings support our proposed trickle-down model using field data obtained from several information technology and financial organizations in India. Theoretical and practical implications as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Rumors and gossip as tools of social undermining and social dominance in workplace bullying and mobbing practices: A closer look at perceived perpetrator motives

ABSTRACTThe impact of ‘bully bosses’ on organizations is well studied and research has established a number of antecedents, correlates, moderators and mediators of workplace bullying and mobbing as well as the impact of the practices on the targets, bystanders, perpetrators and the employing organizations. The current study focuses on rumors and gossip as ‘tools’ used by perpetrators of workplace bullying and mobbing. This study is important because while researchers have generally agreed that rumors and gossip can contribute to a better understanding of different areas of interest to organizational behaviorists and researchers; the role played by the two social processes (i.e., rumors and gossip) have not been adequately interrogated by scholars or practitioners studying organizations. To address this gap in research, the main objective of the current study was to use collaborative and analytic autoethnography (CAAE) in exploring and presenting qualitative empirical inquiry on the dynamics of workplace bullying as perpetrated by ‘bully bosses’ and as characterized by rumors and gossip. The findings and extant literature suggests that depending on: contents, functions, and the situational and motivational contexts, perpetrators of bullying and mobbing may use rumors and gossip: 1) for maintenance of oppression and social dominance; 2) as an expression of envy and social undermining; 3) as a weapon to humiliate subordinates by corporate/organizational psychopaths; and/or 4) as a psychological attempt to close or widen the power gap.

When Core Self-Evaluations Influence Employees’ Deviant Reactions to Abusive Supervision: The Moderating Role of Cognitive Ability

Viewing workplace deviance within a victim precipitation framework, we explore how abusive supervisors target subordinates low in core self-evaluations (CSE) to explain when such employees respond by engaging in workplace deviance. We theorize that employees who are lower in CSE receive more abusive supervision, which generates subsequent harmful reactions toward supervisors, peers, and the organization. This occurs primarily when employees lack sufficient cognitive resources in dealing with supervisor abuse. We test, replicate, and extend our theoretical model in three empirical studies. Results demonstrate that lower employee CSE drew more abusive supervision and led low-CSE employees to exhibit workplace deviance. This abusive supervision mediation effect was stronger for employees with comparatively lower cognitive ability levels. The findings are discussed with regard to theoretical and ethical issues in confronting employee abuse.

The Moderating Role of Self-esteem between Burnout and Social Undermining in the Nurses of Charity Hospitals in Mashhad

The Moderating Role of Self-esteem between Burnout and Social Undermining in the Nurses of Charity Hospitals in Mashhad

Do Victims of Supervisor Bullying Suffer from Poor Creativity? Social Cognitive and Social Comparison Perspectives

This study explores the dark side of leadership, treats creative self-efficacy as a mediator, and frames supervisor bullying and employee creativity in the context of social cognition and social comparison. We theorize that with a high social comparison orientation, the combination of high supervisory abuse toward themselves (own abusive supervision) and low supervisory abuse toward other team members (peer abusive supervision) leads to a double whammy effect: When employees are “singled out” for abuse, these victims suffer from not only low creative self-efficacy due to supervisory abuse but also low supervisory creativity ratings. Results based on our two-wave data collected from multiple sources—253 employees and their 77 immediate supervisors—support our theory. The significant three-way interaction effect reveals that when social comparison orientation is high and peer abusive supervision is low (Time 1), own abusive supervision (Time 1) creates the strongest negative impact on creative self-efficacy (Time 2), which is significantly related to supervisory low creativity rating (Time 2). Our discoveries of egregious bullying offer provocative theoretical, empirical, and practical implications to the fields of leadership, abusive supervision, creativity, and business ethics.