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

The hot and the cold in destructive leadership: Modeling the role of arousal in explaining leader antecedents and follower consequences of abusive supervision versus exploitative leadership

Due to its devastating consequences, research needs to theoretically and empirically disentangle different sub-types of destructive leadership. Based on concepts derived from aggression research distinguishing re- and proactive aggression, we provide a process model differentiating abusive supervision and exploitative leadership. High versus low arousal negative affect is installed as the central mediating factor determining (1) whether perceived goal-blockage (leadership antecedents) leads to abusive supervision versus exploitative leadership and (2) whether a specific leadership behavior leads to active versus passive follower behavior (leadership consequence). Further, theoretical anchoring of individual and contextual moderators onto the model's process paths is provided and exemplary hypotheses for concrete moderation effects are deduced. Based on the provided process model, we highlight four recommendations to facilitate process-based construct differentiation in future research on destructive leadership. To precisely understand the differences and commonalities in different forms of destructive leadership will ultimately enable custom-tailored inter- and prevention.

Plain Language Summary

Negative leadership—also named “destructive” leadership—has very bad effects on followers and organizations. There are not just one, but many forms of destructive leadership and it is important to understand where different sub-types come from (i.e., to understand their antecedents) and which specific effect they have (i.e., to understand their consequences). In this paper, we focus on better understanding two forms of destructive leadership, namely abusive supervision and exploitative leadership. These two forms are similar to the two main forms of aggression. Abusive supervision is similar to reactive aggression, an impulsive “hot blooded” form of aggression. Exploitative leadership is similar to proactive aggression, a premeditated “cold blooded” form of aggression. We explain the parallels between the two forms of aggression and the two forms of leadership and provide a model which allows to predict when one versus the other form of leadership occurs and to which follower behavior they lead. An important factor in this model is the physiological characteristic of the emotional reaction to an event (i.e., arousal). An emotional reaction can be high in arousal; for instance, anger is a high arousal negative emotional reaction. On the contrary, boredom, for instance, is a low arousal negative emotional reaction. Dependent on whether both a leader and a follower react to a negative event (e.g., not getting what they want, being treated badly by others) with high or low arousal, their behavior will be different. We explain how this mechanism works and how it can help us to better predict leaders' and followers' behavior. We also outline how individual characteristics of the leader and follower and characteristics of their environment and context interact with arousal and their behavior.

The Roles of Life Satisfaction and Community Recreational Facilities in the Relationship between Loneliness and Depression in Older Adults

OBJECTIVES

This study examined the mediating effect of life satisfaction and the moderating effect of the availability of community recreational facilities (CRF) in the association between loneliness and depression in rural older adults and urban older adults, respectively.

METHODS

Quantitative data collected from 7547 Chinese older adults were analyzed using the SPSS macro PROCESS to test a moderated mediation model with life satisfaction as the mediator and CRF availability and residency type (rural vs. urban) as moderators.

RESULTS

Loneliness negatively predicted life satisfaction, life satisfaction negatively predicted depression, and loneliness positively predicted depression. The interaction of loneliness and CRF availability had a significant effect on depression for urban older adults but not for rural older adults. The direct impact of loneliness on depression differed significantly between rural and urban older adults.

CONCLUSIONS

Life satisfaction mediated the association between loneliness and depression in both rural and urban older adults; CRF availability unexpectedly boosted the effect of loneliness on depression in urban older adults but not in rural older adults. Given the same level of loneliness, urban older adults were more likely to be depressed than rural older adults.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Psychogeriatric practitioners may embed life satisfaction into intervention programs to minimize depression among older adults. Public administrators should examine the utilization of public facilities to avoid wasted resources and counterproductive effects on older adults. Lonely urban older adults deserve special attention.

How Authoritarian Leadership Affects Employee's Helping Behavior? The Mediating Role of Rumination and Moderating Role of Psychological Ownership

Interpersonal helping behaviors, i.e., voluntarily assisting colleagues for their workplace related problems, have received immense amount of scholarly attention due to their significant impacts on organizational effectiveness. Among several other factors, authoritarian leadership style could influence helping behavior within organizations. Furthermore, this relationship could be mediated by workplace stressor such as rumination, known as a critical psychological health component leading to depressive symptoms, hopelessness and pessimism. In the meantime, less research attention has devoted to probe the crucial role of psychological ownership, which can buffer the adverse effects of authoritarian leadership upon rumination. Building on conservation of resources theory, this study investigates the adverse impacts of authoritarian leadership on employees' helping behaviors through mediating role of rumination, and also examines the moderating effect of psychological ownership between the relationship of authoritarian leadership and rumination. The data were collected from 264 employees in education and banking sectors and the results show: (i) authoritarian leadership has adverse impacts on helping behavior, (ii) rumination mediates the relationship between authoritarian leadership and employees' helping behaviors, and (iii) psychological ownership moderates the positive relationship between authoritarian leadership and rumination. This study concludes that authoritarian leadership has adverse impacts upon helping behavior, which needs to be controlled/minimized. The findings are of great significance for managers, employees, and organizations in terms of policy implications. The limitations and future research directions are also discussed.

Abusive Supervision, Affective Commitment, Customer Orientation, and Proactive Customer Service Performance: Evidence From Hotel Employees in China

Abusive supervision is quite common in the service industry. Employees' proactive customer service performance is essential for the long-term development of service enterprises. This study enriches the antecedents of proactive customer service performance from a new theoretical perspective by incorporating the analysis of abusive supervision into the theoretical framework and fills the research gap between customer orientation and proactive customer service performance. Based on Affective Events Theory and Social Cognitive Theory, this study established the structure equation model between abusive supervision and proactive customer service performance mediated by affective commitment and customer orientation. Utilizing structural equation modeling, a negative association between abusive supervision and proactive customer service performance was found, and affective commitment and customer orientation act as the mediators between abusive supervision and proactive customer service performance. In addition, the implications for future study were also discussed.

How Does Perceived Health Status Affect Depression in Older Adults? Roles of Attitude toward Aging and Social Support

Objectives: This study aims to test the mediating effect of attitude toward aging and the moderating effect of social support in the association between perceived health status and depression in older adults. Methods: The study hypotheses were tested by using quantitative data collected from 6485 Chinese older adults. SPSS macro PROCESS was employed to analyze the data. Results: The results show that the relationship between perceived health status and depression in older adults is mediated by their attitude toward aging. In addition, both direct and indirect impacts of perceived health status on depression are significantly buffered by social support. Conclusions: This study suggests a potential mediating role of attitude toward aging and a moderating role of social support in the association between physical health and mental health among older adults. Clinical Implications: The findings of the study suggest that clinicians might need to consider attitudes toward aging along with social support as they work with older adults with comorbid physical illnesses and depression. The findings also reveal that social support is not only about the external resources that older adults need to cope with stressful life events, but also serves as an inner sustenance to make older adults less sensitive to the deleterious effects of poor health status and negative attitude toward aging.

The Positive Relationships Between Paranoia, Perceptions of Workplace Bullying, and Intentions of Workplace Deviance in United Kingdom and French Teachers: Cross-Cultural Aspects

Cognitive models of psychopathology were applied to inform the relationships between paranoid cognitions, perceptions of workplace bullying, and intentions of workplace deviance in UK and French teachers. Sixty-six UK teachers and 50 French teachers were asked to fill in an online survey comprised of the Green Paranoia Thought Scales, Negative Acts Questionnaire, Depression, Anxiety and Stress scales, and Workplace Deviance Scale. The variables in this study were conceptualized as cognitions and not as facts because the study used self-report questionnaires of paranoid ideation, workplace bullying, and workplace deviance. Mann-Whitney tests showed that UK teachers report significantly more perceptions of work-related bullying and intentions of workplace deviance than French teachers. However, there was no statistically significant difference between UK and French teachers for the report of paranoid ideation. Mediation analyses showed that paranoia impacted on intentions of workplace deviance but perceptions of workplace bullying and negative affect did not mediate this association in UK and French teachers. Culturally tailored psycho-social interventions should be implemented targeting teachers' paranoid thinking and workplace bullying in order to deter teachers from engaging in workplace deviance and to promote their well-being.