The effect of abusive supervision on employee deviant behaviors: an identity-based perspective
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Abstract:
Drawing on the identity perspective, we investigate the roles of organizational and moral identification in the relationship between abusive supervision and subordinates' organizational deviance. By conducting a multiwave study of 182 subordinate–supervisor dyads, we found that organizational identification partially mediated the relationship between abusive supervision and subordinates' organizational deviance after controlling for perceived leader social support as an alternative mediator. In addition, we demonstrated that organizational identification interacted with moral identification in affecting organizational deviance in the workplace and that moral identification moderated the indirect effect of abusive supervision on organizational deviance via organizational identification. However, we did not find a mediating effect of moral identification, and we call for future studies to explore the impact of more specific facets of identities in abusive supervision situations. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.Keywords:
Abusive supervision
Organizational identification
Deviance
Supervisor
본 연구는 상사의 비인격적 감독과 부하의 업무노력 및 상사대상 일탈행동 간의 비선형 관계, 그리고 이러한 비선형 관계에서 상사-부하간 ？？시(Supervisor-Subordinate Guanxi)의 조절효과를 살펴보고자 시행되었다. 설문조사를 통해 수집한 260명의 중국 직장인 자료를 위계적 다항회귀분석을 통해 분석한 결과, 비인격적 감독은 업무노력과는 U자형 관계를, 일탈행동과는 역U 자형 관계를 갖는 것으로 나타났다. 상사-부하간 ？？시의 조절효과의 경우, 높은 수준의 ？？시를 인식하는 부하에게서는 비인격적 감독과 업무노력 간의 U자형의 비선형 관계가 유의했으나, 낮은수준의 ？？시를 인식하는 부하에게서는 비인격적 감독과 업무노력 간 부(-)의 선형관계가 나타났다. 한편, 비인격적 감독과 일탈행동 간의 역U자형의 비선형 관계는 ？？시 수준에 관계없이 유의하였으나, ？？시를 높게 인식하는 부하에게서 상대적으로 더 강하게 나타났다. 이상의 결과를 토대로 본 연구결과의 시사점을 논의하였으며, 본 연구의 한계 및 향후 연구방향을 제시하였다.This study aims to verify the curvilinear relationships between abusive supervision and subordinates work effort (U-shaped) and supervisor-directed deviant behavior (Inverted U-shaped) and to examine the moderating effect of supervisor-subordinate guanxi. Using self-reported data from 260 Chinese employees, we found supports for a U-shaped relationship between abusive supervision and work effort and an inverted U-shaped relationship between abusive relationship and supervisor-directed deviant behavior. Regarding moderating role of guanxi, while an U-shaped relationship between abusive supervision and work effort was significant for subordinates perceiving high level of guanxi, abusive supervision has a linear and negative relationship with work effort for subordinates perceiving low level of guanxi. Meanwhile, whereas an inverted U-shaped relationship between abusive supervision and supervisor-directed deviant behavior was signigicant for subordinates with high levels of guanxi, such curvilinear relationship was also valid for those with low levels of guanxi. We discussed the implications, limitations, and agenda for future research.
Supervisor
Guanxi
Abusive supervision
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Drawing on the identity perspective, we investigate the roles of organizational and moral identification in the relationship between abusive supervision and subordinates' organizational deviance. By conducting a multiwave study of 182 subordinate–supervisor dyads, we found that organizational identification partially mediated the relationship between abusive supervision and subordinates' organizational deviance after controlling for perceived leader social support as an alternative mediator. In addition, we demonstrated that organizational identification interacted with moral identification in affecting organizational deviance in the workplace and that moral identification moderated the indirect effect of abusive supervision on organizational deviance via organizational identification. However, we did not find a mediating effect of moral identification, and we call for future studies to explore the impact of more specific facets of identities in abusive supervision situations. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Abusive supervision
Organizational identification
Deviance
Supervisor
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Models of social exchange suggest that employees’ deviant behaviors can provoke abusive supervision. In the present research, we investigate employees’ individual characteristics that potentially mitigate or amplify the positive relationship between employee deviance and abusive supervision. We focus on employees’ social skills and self-evaluations. Drawing from social information processing theory and the interpersonal perspective of self- evaluations, we argue that employees with weak social skills and highly favorable self-evaluations are the most likely to be the target of abusive supervision following their deviant behavior. Furthermore, we argue that employees with strong social skills, regardless of their self-evaluations, are able to manage their relationships in ways that will mitigate retaliatory abusive supervision. We test our hypotheses across two field studies that incorporate multi-source data from employees and their managers. Our research contributes to the literature on employee deviance by suggesting that deviant employees can come in two forms: the oafish deviant, who is blind to the social repercussions of his or her actions and who provokes abusive supervision as a result; and the manipulator deviant, who can rely upon his or her social acumen to ward off retaliatory abusive supervision.
Abusive supervision
Deviance
Social exchange theory
Abusive relationship
Social Skills
Positive deviance
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Base on the social exchange theory and social identity theory,this paper discusses the impact of abusive supervision on employees' workplace deviance behavior and the mediating effect between them in China scenarios. Total 225 employees from different province were sampled and Hierarchical Regression Modeling was employed to analyze the data.The result shows that abusive supervision has an significant effect on employees' workplace deviance behavior;organizational identification mediates the relationship between abusive supervision and employees' workplace deviance behavior.
Deviance
Abusive supervision
Organizational identification
Social exchange theory
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Abusive supervision is not scares in Chinese service industries. In this paper, we considered supervisor's personal values play a key role in predicting perceptions of abusive supervision. We tested our model consisting of 171 supervisor - subordinate dyads from Chinese retail organizations. Specifically, we found that in the retail industry: (1) supervisor's self-enhancement values were positively associated with subordinate perceptions of abusive supervision; (2) supervisor's conservation values were negatively associated with subordinate perceptions of abusive supervision; and (3) supervisor perceptions of interactional justice moderated the relationship between supervisor's self-enhancement values and abusive supervision. Implications for research and practice were discussed.
Supervisor
Abusive supervision
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Abstract Previous research has indicated that abusive supervision negatively influences various organizational outcomes. However, the antecedents and psychological mechanisms of abusive supervision are not well understood, especially in the Chinese context. In this study, we propose and test a mediated moderation model to explore the interactive effect of psychological contract breach and negative reciprocity belief on abusive supervision, and the mediating effect of organizational identification. Using a sample of 268 dyads of employees and their immediate supervisors (N = 536) from six companies and two industries in China, we find that when supervisors experience breaches in psychological contract they are likely to increase abusive behaviours toward subordinates, and that the positive association is stronger the more the supervisor holds negative reciprocity beliefs. Moreover, the results indicate that organizational identification mediates the joint effect of psychological contract breach and negative reciprocity belief on abusive supervision. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.
Abusive supervision
Organizational identification
Psychological contract
Reciprocity
Moderation
Supervisor
Norm of reciprocity
Identification
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Previous research has indicated that abusive supervision negatively influences various organizational outcomes. However, the antecedents and psychological mechanisms of abusive supervision are not well understood, especially in the Chinese context. In this study, we propose and test a mediated moderation model to explore the interactive effect of psychological contract breach and negative reciprocity belief on abusive supervision, and the mediating effect of organizational identification. Using a sample of 268 dyads of employees and their immediate supervisors (N = 536) from six companies and two industries in China, we find that when supervisors experience breaches in psychological contract they are likely to increase abusive behaviours toward subordinates, and that the positive association is stronger the more the supervisor holds negative reciprocity beliefs. Moreover, the results indicate that organizational identification mediates the joint effect of psychological contract breach and negative reciprocity belief on abusive supervision. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.
Abusive supervision
Organizational identification
Psychological contract
Reciprocity
Moderation
Norm of reciprocity
Identification
Supervisor
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Purpose Drawing upon affective events theory, the authors propose that the subordinates’ negative gossip acts as a targeting affective event which leads to supervisor negative emotions. In turn, such negative emotions provoke supervisors to exhibit abusive behavior toward their subordinates. Additionally, the authors propose that an affective dispositional factor, namely, supervisor emotional regulation, moderates the hypothesized relationships. Using multisource data and a moderated-mediation model, the authors find that the supervisor’s perception of the subordinates’ negative workplace gossip is associated with abusive supervision through the supervisor’s negative emotions. Moreover, the supervisor’s emotional regulation mitigates the relationship between such negative gossip and the supervisor’s negative emotions. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from employees (e.g. subordinates) and their immediate supervisors in organizations representing a variety of industries (e.g. finance, health care, information technology, public safety and human services) located in three cities in China. Respondents were recruited from different professional online forums with the offer of free movie tickets in return for participation. Findings Using multisource data and a moderated-mediation model, the authors find that the supervisor’s perception of the subordinates’ negative workplace gossip is associated with abusive supervision through the supervisor’s negative emotions. Moreover, the supervisor’s emotional regulation mitigates the relationship between such negative gossip and the supervisor’s negative emotions, but not the relationship between the supervisor’s negative emotions and abusive supervision. Research limitations/implications Like all studies, the current one is not without limitations. First, the data were collected using a cross-sectional research design, which limits the interference of causality among the hypothesized relationships in the model. Future research work should apply alternative research designs such as a daily diary or longitudinal data collection (Shadish et al. , 2002), in order to support the validity of the study. Practical implications In practical terms, abusive supervision is recognized as a destructive workplace behavior that is costly to organizations (Mackey et al. , 2017; Martinko et al. , 2013). Thus, it is important for organizational management and practitioners to understand the reasons why supervisors exhibit abusive behavior toward subordinates. Social implications Through this study, higher management must understand harmful effects of subordinates’ workplace negative gossip, it must be recognized as other types of workplace mistreatment (rudeness and incivility), establishment and enforcement of the code of conduct can prevent negative workplace gossip prevalence in the workplace. Originality/value This study has contributed to the organizational behavior literature in several aspects. First, most studies have examined the consequences of abusive supervisor through subordinates victimization, current study contributes in the ongoing stream of research by examining antecedents of abusive supervision through subordinates’ social victimization (e.g. negative workplace gossip) of supervisors.
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Abusive supervision
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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.
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Abusive supervision
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The social identity approach is a powerful theoretical framework for the understanding of individuals' behaviour. The main argument is that individuals think and act on behalf of the group they belong to because this group membership adds to their social identity, which partly determines one's self-esteem. In the organizational world, social identity and self-categorization theories state that a strong organizational identification is associated with low turnover intentions. Because identification is the more general perception of shared fate between employee and organization, we propose that the relationship between identification and turnover will be mediated by job satisfaction as the more specific evaluation of one's task and working conditions. In four samples we found organizational identification feeding into job satisfaction, which in turn predicts turnover intentions.
Organizational identification
Identification
Argument (complex analysis)
Social identity approach
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Group identification
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