Reactions to abusive supervision: examining the roles of emotions and gender in the USA

The broken trust: how exploitative leadership damages employee work passion

This study explores how exploitative leadership affects employees' work passion, a vital element for engagement, creativity, and productivity. It further delves into how trust in leaders mediates this relationship. By applying social exchange theory and conservation of resources theory and analyzing responses from 384 full-time employees through covariance-based structural equation modeling using SmartPLS, the findings confirm the negative effects of exploitative leadership on work passion. They also underscore the significant mediating role of trust in leaders. These insights underline the importance of addressing exploitative leadership in organizational policies and enhancing trust to improve work passion. The study not only provides valuable information for organizations but also lays the groundwork for future research on leadership styles, trust, and employee passion.

Unraveling Abusive Supervision Climate in Aircrew Workplaces: The Roles of Temporary Organizational Features, Trust, and Gender Dynamics

This study aims to advance the theoretical understanding of the contextual antecedents underlying abusive supervision. It provides a fresh perspective on how subordinates' perceptions of an abusive supervision climate are shaped in temporary work environments. By developing a robust model, this research examines the relationships between temporary organizational characteristics (i.e., temporariness and membership flexibility), trust in ad-hoc supervisors, and perceived abusive supervision climates. We tested the hypothesized model using data from 340 aircrew engaged in temporary and constantly shifting supervisor-subordinate relationships. The results revealed that: (a) temporariness has a direct negative relationship with trust in ad-hoc supervisors, whereas membership flexibility positively affects this trust; (b) the link between temporariness/membership flexibility and a perceived abusive supervision climate is mediated by trust in ad-hoc supervisors. Furthermore, this study highlights gender interactions in a transactional context, indicating that: (c) females perceive a stronger negative association between trust and abusive supervision climates compared to males; and (d) the relationship between temporariness/membership flexibility and trust in ad-hoc supervisors is significant for women and men, respectively. In conclusion, this study underscores the importance of considering the unique organizational characteristics of temporary work settings when examining abusive supervision. It also emphasizes the role of gender in shaping subordinates' perceptions of a workplace victimization climate, particularly in situations where leader-member exchanges are ephemeral and contractual.

Negative association between workplace violence and patient safety behaviour in male, but not female, nursing interns: A cross-section study

AIM

The aim of the study was to compare the associations between workplace violence and patient safety behaviour between male and female nursing interns.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional survey.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was carried out at three general hospitals in Shandong Province in China to collect data from 466 nursing interns. We evaluated the associations between workplace violence and patient safety behaviours in men and women using multiple linear regressions.

RESULTS

Sex moderated the association between workplace violence and patient safety behaviour (B = 1.046, [SE = 0.477]; p = 0.029). Among male nursing interns, there was a significant association between workplace violence and patient safety (B = -1.353, 95% CI [-2.556, -0.151]; p = 0.028). In male nursing interns, verbal violence and sexual violence were significantly negatively associated with patient safety (B = -1.569, SE = 0.492, p = 0.002; B = -45.663, SE = 5.554, p < 0.001). No significant association was found in female nursing interns.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

This study did not have a patient or public contribution.

Longitudinal relations between abusive supervision, subordinates' emotional exhaustion, and job neglect among Pakistani Nurses: The moderating role of self-compassion

The main purpose of this study was to investigate reciprocal relationships between abusive supervision, subordinates' emotional exhaustion, and job neglect, and to examine the mediating role of emotional exhaustion in the cross-lagged relationship between abusive supervision and job neglect. Besides, we tested the moderating role of self-compassion in the cross-lagged relationship between abusive supervision and emotional exhaustion. We applied a two-wave cross-lagged panel design with a time lag of six months. Participants were 331 staff nurses of public sector hospitals in Islamabad, Pakistan. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire at two points in time. Longitudinal structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to compare nested models. Results of cross-lagged SEM analyses supported the posited reciprocal model, indicating that abusive supervision, emotional exhaustion, and job neglect are mutually related. Results of mediation analysis showed that emotional exhaustion partially mediates the cross-lagged relationship between abusive supervision and job neglect. Further, we found that self-compassion attenuates the positive cross-lagged effect of abusive supervision on emotional exhaustion, and the indirect effect of abusive supervision on job neglect was weaker at higher levels of self-compassion. Our findings suggest that subordinates may find themselves in abusive relationships, in part, because their own behavioral responses to abuse can reinforce abusive supervision. Moreover, we identified the stress-buffering effect of self-compassion on emotional exhaustion.

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.

Is Abusive Supervision the Last Straw? The Buffering Role of Construal Level in the Association of Abusive Supervision With Withdrawal

Drawing on the theory of cognitive-affective processing system and that of construal level, we propose a moderated mediation model illustrating the relationship among abusive supervision, shame, construal level, and work withdrawal. We tested this model with a two-source time-lagged survey of 387 employees from 129 work teams in central and East China. Results revealed that abusive supervision had a positive association with the emotion of shame and supported the mediating role of shame linking abusive supervision to work withdrawal. Besides, our findings supported the buffering effect of construal level on the shame-work withdrawal relationship as well as the indirect relationship between abusive supervision and work withdrawal channeled through the emotion of shame.

The Consequences of Incongruent Abusive Supervision: Anticipation of Social Exclusion, Shame, and Turnover Intentions

We investigated the turnover intentions of employees who perceive that they are being treated with more or less abusive supervision than their coworkers. We call this incongruent abusive supervision. Our findings support our theory that employees associate incongruent abusive supervision with the anticipation of social exclusion from their coworkers. Furthermore, this appraisal of social exclusion threat is associated with feelings of shame, which, in turn, increase turnover intentions. Two experimental vignettes provide support for our theoretical model. These findings demonstrate the effect that incongruent abusive supervision has on employees’ reactions to abusive supervision and introduces shame as an emotional mechanism important for understanding employee responses to supervisor abuse both when they are singled out for abuse and when they are spared abuse while their coworkers are not.

Exploring job crafting as a response to abusive supervision

Purpose

The purpose of this qualitative exploratory study was to investigate the capacity of job crafting to serve as a viable response to abusive supervision. Although considerable literature has emerged on employee reactions to abusive supervision, the role of job crafting as a coping mechanism has received relatively little attention.

Design/methodology/approach

Using qualitative exploration, we conducted semi-structured interviews to examine how individuals engage in job crafting as a means to respond to or cope with abusive supervision. Critical Incident Interview Technique (CIIT) was used to obtain in-depth details of this topic. We analyzed the interview-based data using the thematic analysis (TA) technique. We also integrated topic modeling to cluster the identified categories of job crafting behaviors within our TA. The cultural context of our findings was further analyzed using interpretive phenological analysis (IPA).

Findings

The results of our thematic analysis led to four recurring themes in the interview-data: (1) Job crafting as a viable coping response to abusive supervision; (2) The type of coping relates to the type of crafting: Approach and Avoidance; (3) The role of perceived control; (4) Emotions play a role in the type of crafting employed. Findings from our IPA generated the following super-ordinate themes. (1) Job crafting fluidity, (2) effectiveness of job crafting, (3) resilience and (4) cultural dynamics.

Research limitations/implications

This research reveals the ways in which individuals may turn to job crafting behaviors as a means to cope following instances of abusive supervision. Given the qualitative exploration of our research approach, we identify generalizability to be an issue.

Practical implications

Job crafting is a proactive phenomenon that equips employees with coping abilities in the workplace. While Wrzesniewski and Dutton (2001) suggested that job crafting behaviors tend to be hidden from management, there may be merit in organizations explicitly acknowledging the benefits of allowing employees to be active agents in their work, capable of using multiple domains of job crafting to improve their personal and professional lives (Petrou et al., 2017).

Originality/value

The current research reveals the ways in which individuals may turn to job crafting behaviors as a means to cope, following instances of abusive supervision. We further fine-grained our analysis to explicate employee job crafting behaviors in response to abusive supervision within a cross-cultural domain.

A stress perspective on antecedents of abusive supervision: Blaming the organisation when exhausted supervisors abuse

Drawing on the stress literature (transactional theory of stress, job demands-resources model and conservation of resources theory), this study aims to provide new insights into the antecedents of abusive supervision. We collected data from 95 supervisors with matched responses from 358 subordinates working across various industries in China using a time-lagged survey. We tested our moderated mediation model using path analyses. Results revealed that perceived workplace competitiveness triggered supervisors’ felt stress and psychological strain, resulting in abusive supervision. Two workplace constraints (climate of error aversion and organisational sanctions against aggression) were examined as moderators: a high climate of error aversion intensified the positive relationship between supervisors’ perceived competition and supervisors’ felt stress; while high organisational sanctions against aggression mitigated the positive relationship between supervisors’ psychological strain and abusive supervision. Together, these findings highlight the importance of workplace constraints and explicate how they influence resource-drained supervisors to displace their aggression onto subordinates.

Three Motives for Abusive Supervision: The Mitigating Effect of Subordinates Attributed Motives on Abusive Supervision’s Negative Outcomes

We have learned a great deal about the negative consequences of abusive supervision, but little attention has been paid to supervisors’ motives for engaging in abusive behavior. This is an important gap in the literature because the consequences of abusive supervision are likely to differ depending on its attributed motive. The current study extends the literature on abusive supervision by refining the attributed motives of abusive supervision and by examining how the attributed motives influence the negative effects of abusive supervision on leader–member exchange (LMX) and withdrawal behaviors (work withdrawal and job withdrawal). Specifically, we develop a conditional process model of abusive supervision which suggests that the negative relationship between abusive supervision and LMX is moderated by the attributed motives of abusive supervision (three motives: injury initiation, performance pressure, and personal disposition to abuse). Our results also suggest that lowered LMX resulting from abusive supervision increases victims’ work withdrawal and job withdrawal behaviors as moderated by organizational tenure. Using quantitative and qualitative data from 139 victims of abuse, we test the proposed model.

Leadership, affect and outcomes: symmetrical and asymmetrical relationships

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which emotional experiences mediate the relationships between employees’ perception of considerate and/or tyrannical leadership behaviors and their work engagement and intention to leave the organization. The notion of symmetric and asymmetric relationships between specific kinds of leadership behavior, emotional reactions, and followers’ attitudinal outcomes is also examined.

Design/methodology/approach

Employing a survey design, the variables were assessed in a cross-sectional sample of 312 employees.

Findings

The study confirmed the notion of symmetric relationships between specific kinds of leadership behavior, emotional reactions, and followers’ attitudinal outcomes. Contrary to the general notion that “bad is stronger than good,” the results indicated that positive emotions were equal or stronger mediators than the negative ones regarding the two outcomes measured in the present study.

Originality/value

The paper is, to the authors’ knowledge, the first paper which examines simultaneously how constructive and destructive leadership styles, and positive and negative affects, are related to employee attitudes outcomes, and evokes a discussion when bad is stronger than good or vice versa regarding leadership outcomes.