Antecedents and outcomes of abusive supervision: test of a trickle-down model

The authors examined antecedents of abusive supervision and the relative importance of interactional and procedural justice as mediators of the relationship between abusive supervision and the work outcomes of affective organizational commitment and individual- and organization-directed citizenship behaviors. Data were obtained from subordinate-supervisor dyads from a telecommunication company located in southeastern China. Results of moderated regression analysis revealed that authoritarian leadership style moderated the relationship between supervisors' perceptions of interactional justice and abusive supervision such that the relationship was stronger for supervisors high rather than low in authoritarian leadership style. In addition, results of structural equation modeling analysis revealed that subordinates' perceptions of interactional but not procedural justice fully mediated the relationship between abusive supervision and the work outcomes. Implications for future investigations of abusive supervision are discussed.     

对辱虐管理与下属公平感关系的再分析：一个有中介的调节效应模型

新近研究发现辱虐管理对下属互动公平感的负向影响受下属权力距离调节：对低权力距离下属来说这种影响相对较强,反之较弱。基于社会交换理论,本文对现有研究做了两方面拓展。首先,引入下属针对领导的总体公平感,考察权力距离在辱虐管理与总体公平感之间的调节作用,扩展那些仅关注互动公平感的研究。其次,引入领导-部属交换,解释权力距离具体是如何在辱虐管理与下属总体公平感之间发挥调节作用的。以296名企业员工为被试,研究发现：(1)下属权力距离在辱虐管理与下属总体公平感之间有调节作用;(2)这种调节作用是通过领导-部属交换的中介作用实现的,即对不同权力距离的下属来说,辱虐管理对领导-部属交换有不同作用,进而对下属总体公平感产生不同影响。     

Psychological and neurological predictors of abusive supervision

Although the negative effects of abusive supervision are well documented, less is known about the individual differences that drive supervisors to be abusive. We use a self‐control perspective to understand the unique roles of both psychological and neurological characteristics of supervisors in the prediction of abusive behavior. Specifically, we find a positive relationship between narcissism and abusive supervision, whereas political skill and intrinsic neurological connectivity in executive control regions of the brain negatively relate to abusive supervision. Our results further show that the relationship between narcissism and abusive supervision diminishes for those who are strong in terms of political skill. In addition, neurological executive control moderates the relationship between political skill and abusive behavior. When connectivity in executive control regions of the brain is lower, political skill becomes a more important factor in reducing the display of abusive behavior. Overall, we demonstrate how combinations of characteristics (both psychological and neurological) can provide a more in‐depth understanding of the emergence of abusive supervision.     

How Abusive Supervisors Influence Employees’ Voice and Silence: The Effects of Interactional Justice and Organizational Attribution

In this research we investigated the influence of abusive supervision on employees’ prosocial voice and silence, as well as clarified the roles of interactional justice (as a mediator) and organizational attribution (as a moderator). Moreover, we examined a mediated moderating model stipulating that interactional justice mediated the moderating effect of organizational attribution on the focal relationship. A scenario experiment was employed in Study 1, and after analyzing data from 196 employees, we found that abusive supervision influenced employees’ prosocial voice and silence via interactional justice. In Study 2, data were collected from 379 employees in two waves separated by 1 week. The results not only replicated the findings of Study 1 but also indicated that organizational attribution buffered the abusive supervision-voice and silence relationship, and that interactional justice mediated this moderating effect.     

应对辱虐，有计可施？深层调节如何降低辱虐管理对员工建言行为的负面影响

针对辱虐管理给建言构成的负面作用,目前少有研究从员工管理认知的应对角度去考虑如何消减这一影响。本研究基于认知失调理论,在洞察互动公平与辱虐管理二者关系的基础上,提出深层调节这类基于认知调整的情绪劳动策略会帮助削弱辱虐管理对员工互动公平的不利作用。由于互动公平将直接影响员工向领导建言的动机,进而预测,深层调节与辱虐管理的交互会通过互动公平的中介影响员工建言(防御性和亲社会性建言)。通过对103个国企团队中530名员工分三阶段的调研,研究假设均得以验证。本文从员工基于调节认知以管理情绪的策略启发,揭示了深层调节这一对策的有效性,拓展了辱虐管理的应对视角,丰富了辱虐管理与建言领域的研究。     

When Leaders Are Seen as Transformational: The Effects of Organizational Justice1

In 2 studies, we attempted to make a first step toward integrating the literature on transformational leadership and organizational justice. We examined the extent to which justice affects perceptions of transformational leadership. We predicted that especially interactional justice should have strong effects. Study 1 was a vignette study (N = 100) in which distributive, procedural, and interactional justice were manipulated orthogonally. As expected, only interactional justice affected transformational leadership perceptions. Study 2 replicated these results in an organizational field study (N = 257). Distributive and procedural justice affected perceptions of transformational leadership, but when interactional justice was entered in the regression equation, their effects disappeared. Implications for integrating the literature on transformational leadership and organizational justice are discussed.     

The relationship between abusive supervision,distributive justice and job satisfaction: A substitutes for leadership approach

IntroductionRecently, interest in abusive supervision has grown (Tepper, 2007). However, little is still known about organizational factors that can reduce the adverse effects of abusive supervision.ObjectiveBased on a substitute for leadership perspective (Kerr & Jermier, 1978), we predict that job resources adequacy and role clarity act as buffers in the negative relationship between abusive supervision, distributive justice and job satisfaction.MethodA sample of 253 employees from a City Hall was used to test our hypotheses.ResultsWe found that abusive supervision was significant and negatively related to distributive justice when job resources adequacy and role clarity were low, but not when job resources adequacy and role clarity were high, with consequences for job satisfaction.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that job resources adequacy and role clarity can reduce the negative impact of abusive supervision, which then lessens distributive unfairness perceptions and job dissatisfaction.     

Abusive supervision and subordinates' organizational citizenship behavior

The relationship between subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision and supervisors' evaluations of subordinates' organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) was explored among a sample of 373 Air National Guard members and their military supervisors. As predicted, the relationship between abusive supervision and subordinates' OCB was stronger among subordinates who defined OCB as extra-role behavior (compared with those defining OCB as in-role behavior), and this effect was fully mediated by the interactive effect of procedural justice and OCB role definitions. The study's implications for theory and research are discussed, its limitations are identified, and directions for future research are suggested.     

Does taking the good with the bad make things worse? How abusive supervision and leader–member exchange interact to impact need satisfaction and organizational deviance

We integrate and extend past work on self-determination theory and mixed relationships, or relationships characterized by both conflict and support, to address the question of how abusive supervision promotes subordinate organizational deviance. In so doing, we propose a mediated moderation model wherein abusive supervision and leader–member exchange interact to predict organizational deviance, with psychological need satisfaction mediating the effect of the interaction on organizational deviance. This hypothesized model was supported with multi-wave data collected from 260 employees. Notably, our model was supported after controlling for justice perceptions and organizational social exchange as alternative mediators. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Narcissism and Aggressive Driving: Is an Inflated View of the Self a Road Hazard?

A total of 210 drivers varying in levels of trait narcissism were presented with 10 scenarios of objectionable driving situations and were asked to make assessments of intentionality, level of inconsideration, and anger and to indicate the behavioral responses they would likely make in such situations. It was hypothesized that responses would reflect attributions made in assessing the behaviors of other motorists. Our results confirmed the associations among attributions, anger, and behavioral reactions. Positive correlations were found between attributions and levels of anger and driver aggression. Individuals high in narcissism were also found to respond more aggressively toward the frustrating driving behavior of others, but this relationship varied by gender and anger experience.     

Supervisor Workplace Stress and Abusive Supervision: The Buffering Effect of Exercise

Purpose

We examine how supervisor stress is associated with employee-rated abusive supervision. In addition, we test the premise that higher levels of physical exercise by supervisors can buffer the negative effects of stress on their relationship with their subordinates.

Design/Methodology/Approach

A matched sample of 98 employed individuals and their direct supervisors was used to test our hypotheses.

Findings

Results suggest that increased levels of supervisor-reported stress are related to the increased experience of employee-rated abusive supervision. We also find that the relationship between supervisor stress and abusive behavior can be diminished when supervisors engage in moderate levels of physical exercise.

Implications

While the current economic conditions and a host of other trying workplace factors mean that supervisors are likely to experience workplace stress, we found evidence that they do not necessarily have to transfer these frustrations onto those they supervise. Our study supports a link between supervisor stress and employee perceptions of abusive supervision, but this is a link that can be loosened if supervisors engage in moderate levels of physical exercise.

Originality/Value

The results of this study add to the modest number of antecedents to abusive supervision that have been discovered in existing research. In addition, this is the first study to examine how exercise can buffer the relationship between supervisor stress and employee perceptions of abusive supervision.     

The unwelcoming experience of abusive supervision and the impact of leader characteristics: turning employees into poor organizational citizens and future quitters

ABSTRACT

Over three studies (i.e., two 2 × 2 experiments and a multi-source field study), we examine the relationship between abusive supervision, leader characteristics, and organizational inclusion on employee outcomes. Drawing on the group value theory of organizational justice and multiple needs theory of organizational justice, we argue that abusive supervision is counterproductive to making employees feel welcome. Specifically, we demonstrate that abusive supervision demoralizes employees’ feelings of organizational inclusion. Additionally, we draw upon research that suggests that the display of hostility inherent in abusive supervision can be perceived differently when it comes from a strategic versus impulsive source. We build upon this reasoning to examine and explain how leader characteristics might alter the effect of abusive supervision on organizational inclusion. More specifically, we suggest that leader political skill (i.e., strategic source) and leader neuroticism (i.e., impulsive source) act as moderators of the relationship between abusive supervision and organizational inclusion. We integrate organizational justice and inclusion theories to demonstrate that abusive supervision can be interpreted as an unwelcoming experience that ultimately has the ability to turn employees into poor organizational citizens (i.e., decrease engagement of OCBs) and future quitters (i.e., increase of turnover intentions). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Adolescent Narcissism,Aggression, and Prosocial Behavior: The Relevance of Socially Desirable Responding

An important threat to validity in personality research pertains to an individual's motivation to respond in a socially desirable manner on self-report inventories. This issue was examined in this study in the context of narcissism, aggression, and prosocial behavior in a sample of at-risk adolescents. Participants were 161 adolescents (128 males, 29 females, 4 not reported) ranging in age from 16 to 19 years who were attending a residential program for youth who have dropped out of school. Overall, socially desirable response tendencies were negatively correlated with vulnerable narcissism and self-reported aggression. Moreover, low socially desirable responses strengthened the relation between narcissism and self-reported aggression. Socially desirable responding was not associated with self- or peer-reported prosocial behavior and did not moderate the relation between narcissism and prosocial behavior. These findings indicate that the relation between narcissism and aggression is attenuated by concerns with social desirability. However, further work is needed in broader samples of adolescents to more closely examine whether social desirability concerns actually mitigate aggression among some youth or signify underreporting of one's problem behaviors.     

Goal Commitment Buffers the Negative Effects of Perceived Abusive Supervision

Abstract

The effects of abusive supervision may be more intricate than what reason would suggest. To examine why individuals may respond differently to perceptions of supervisor abusive, this study relies on goal-setting theory to present a model that accounts for the influence of abusive supervision on job performance and organizational deviance. To be precise, motivation control and self-defeating cognition are proposed to mediate the interaction of perceived abusive supervision with goal commitment in predicting organizational deviance and job performance. In particular, the extent to which goal commitment alleviates the deleterious effects of abusive supervision is examined such that when goal commitment is high, the indirect effects of perceived abusive supervision on job performance and organizational deviance via motivation control and self-defeating cognition were predicted to be weaker. The proposed model was supported by multisource and multiwave data. The understanding of when the deleterious effects of supervisor abuse as perceived by followers are likely might help the human resource personnel to adopt measures that buffer against such outcomes.     

Abusive Supervision from an Integrated Self‐Control Perspective

We investigate the relationship between supervisors’ irritation and follower perceptions of abusive supervision. Based on the integrated self‐control framework, we propose a positive relationship between supervisor irritation and abusive supervision. Moreover, we propose this relationship to be buffered by supervisors’ self‐control capacities and by external monitoring of the supervisor by upper management. We tested our hypotheses in a two‐source survey study with 96 supervisor‐follower dyads. Our results show a positive relationship between supervisor irritation and abusive supervision and an interaction between supervisor irritation and supervisor self‐control. The interaction pattern revealed a positive relationship between supervisor irritation and abusive supervision if supervisor self‐control is low. We also found an interaction between supervisor irritation and external monitoring in predicting active but not passive forms of abusive supervision. Our findings underline the role of self‐control processes in explaining abusive supervision.     

分配不公正下的退缩行为：程序公正和互动公正的影响

以160名中学教师为被试,采用2×2的完全随机设计,以模拟故事（scenarios）的方法呈现刺激,研究了在职称评定中分配不公正的前提下,程序公正/不公正,互动公正/不公正对教师的退缩行为（消极怠工、拒绝帮助、离职、对校长的消极态度）的影响。结果表明,在分配不公正条件下：（1）程序公正、互动公正均影响教师的消极怠工程度;（2）程序公正、互动公正均影响教师的拒绝帮助行为程度,而且交互作用显著;（3）互动公正影响教师对上司的消极态度,程序公正无显著影响;（4）程序公正和互动公正对离职意愿影响均不显著     

Adult sex role orientation and perceptions of aggressive interactions between girls and boys

We explored how the sex role orientation of adult observers related to their perceptions of boys' and girls' aggression. Sex-typed and androgynous undergraduate subjects viewed videotaped scenes in which one member of a girl-boy pair behaved aggressively toward the other. Unlike androgynous subjects, sex-typed subjects judged boys' aggression to be more intentional than girls' and proposed more severe reprimands for aggressive boys than for aggressive girls. Androgynous subjects recommended more severe reprimands for aggressive girls than sex-typed subjects did. Overall, sex-typed subjects differed from androgynous subjects not in their assessment of the degree of aggressiveness boys and girls expressed, but in their perceptions of the purposefulness of boys' and girls' aggression and how harshly to respond to it. We speculated that sex-typed subjects did not consider girls' aggression to be serious enough to warrant severe reprimands. Thus, during socialization, sex-typed adults perhaps model less aggression in response to girls' aggressive acts than to boys'. In addition, sex-typed adults may convey to girls that their aggression is not an effective means of obtaining adult intervention.     

Abusive supervision and family undermining as displaced aggression

This study focuses on factors that contribute to abusive supervision, one form of nonphysical aggression, and the results of such abuse on subordinates and their family members. Using a "kick the dog" metaphor (As Marcus-Newhall, Pedersen, Carlson, and Miller (2000) state, this is a "commonly used anecdote to illustrate displaced aggression. . .a man is berated by his boss but does not retaliate because he fears losing his job. Hours later, when he arrives home to the greeting barks of his dog he responds by kicking it," p. 670), the authors investigated whether abusive supervision may be the result of a supervisor's displeasure with his or her organization. Using a sample of 210 supervisors, their subordinates, and the subordinates' family members or partners, the authors hypothesized that supervisors' reports of psychological contract violations, moderated by hostile attribution bias, would be associated with subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision. In turn, the authors hypothesized that abused subordinates' family members would report sustained negative affect and negative evaluations directed toward them in the home. The hypotheses were supported.     

Abusive supervision and workplace deviance and the moderating effects of negative reciprocity beliefs

In this study, the authors examine the relationship between abusive supervision and employee workplace deviance. The authors conceptualize abusive supervision as a type of aggression. They use work on retaliation and direct and displaced aggression as a foundation for examining employees' reactions to abusive supervision. The authors predict abusive supervision will be related to supervisor-directed deviance, organizational deviance, and interpersonal deviance. Additionally, the authors examine the moderating effects of negative reciprocity beliefs. They hypothesized that the relationship between abusive supervision and supervisor-directed deviance would be stronger when individuals hold higher negative reciprocity beliefs. The results support this hypothesis. The implications of the results for understanding destructive behaviors in the workplace are examined.     

Workplace aggression in teenage part-time employees

Among adult employees, interpersonal injustice and abusive supervision predict aggression toward supervisors at work. The aim of this study was to assess whether similar relationships exist among teenage employees and, further, whether teenagers' reasons for working moderate these relationships. Multiple regression analyses on data from 119 teenage employees showed that financial and personal fulfillment reasons for working moderate the impact of interpersonal injustice and abusive supervision on aggression directed at workplace supervisors. These findings contribute to the understanding of workplace aggression by demonstrating that (a) teenagers engage in this workplace behavior, (b) the predictors are similar to those of adult aggression, and (c) reasons for working play a moderating role among this particular cohort. The possible long-term consequences of teenagers' use of aggression at work are discussed.