Why do you treat me badly? The role of attributions regarding the cause of abuse in subordinates' responses to abusive supervision

Abusive supervision and nursing students' intention to leave the nursing profession: a moderated mediation model of emotional exhaustion and the nurse-patient relationship

BACKGROUND

Exploration of the relationship between nursing students' abusive supervision and their future intention to leave the nursing profession before completing the final clinical practicum is critical to the issue of nursing staff shortages and how to alleviate them. In order to further dissect the factors influencing turnover intention among student nurses in clinical practice, our study used the conservation of resources theory and job demands-resources model to explain the specific pathways that influence student nurses' intention to leave the nursing profession, with particular focus on nursing students' personality traits and certain organizational factors.

METHOD

This study followed a cross-sectional design. Between March and May 2022, a convenience sampling method was used to select 531 nursing students from two medical universities in Fuzhou. The Abusive Supervision, Emotional Exhaustion, Nurse-Patient Relationship, and Turnover Intention Scales were employed to collect data. The PROCESS macro (Models 4 and 7) for SPSS 25.0 by Hayes and 5,000 bootstrap samples were used to examine the moderation and mediation impacts.

RESULTS

Abusive supervision was found to significantly positively predict nursing students' intention to leave the nursing profession. Emotional exhaustion significantly mediated the relationship between abusive supervision and an intention to leave the nursing profession. The moderating effect of the nurse-patient relationship in the mediation model was also found to be significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Abusive supervision by clinical teaching staff is a work-related stressor that leads to emotional exhaustion, consequently decreasing nursing students' future intention to work as a nurse. A nurse-patient relationship based on trust could buffer the negative effect of abusive supervision on emotional exhaustion. Healthcare organizations and nurse educators should implement programs that educate and train individuals about abusive supervision, emotion regulation, and positive nurse-patient relationships; this would serve to decrease nursing students' intention to leave the nursing profession. This study provides relevant implications for helping nursing instructors develop effective intervention strategies to retain talented nursing personnel.

Attributions for abusive supervision: Who do subordinates blame and does it matter?

Drawing on attribution theory, we propose in Study 1 that subordinates' supervisor-directed responses to abusive supervision depend upon their causal attributions for the abuse. Using a scenario-based study (N = 183), we test a moderated mediation model in which the entity blamed for abusive supervision (supervisor, organization, self) is expected to predict subordinates' behavioral intentions toward their supervisor via affective responses (supervisor disliking). This relationship will be exacerbated when subordinates perceive the cause of abusive supervision as stable. We found that subordinates who blamed themselves or the organization for the abuse disliked their supervisor less and had higher OCB-supervisor intentions, and this relationship was stronger when subordinates perceived the cause of abuse as stable. Disliking mediated the relationship between supervisor attributions and OCB-supervisor, but this relationship is not moderated by perceived stability. In Study 2, we explore whether there are additional entities that are blamed for abusive supervision and the reasons they are held accountable. We examined qualitative responses (N = 107) from abused subordinates to find that they most commonly blame their supervisor, themselves, and the organization for abusive supervision. However, subordinates occasionally blame their relationship with their supervisor and their work group.

The ways to avoid abusive supervision: the moderating effects of the characteristics of supervisors and subordinates on abusive supervision

Following the recent emphasis on supervisory interactions in abusive supervision, this study explains why and how supervisors' job insecurity and authoritarianism are related to abusive supervision and how subordinates' characteristics, agreeableness and negotiating resistance interact with the effects of supervisors' characteristics. We conducted a field study with 261 supervisor and subordinate dyads in South Korea, and the study findings confirmed that supervisors' authoritarianism is positively related to abusive supervision and that the effect is enhanced when subordinates are highly agreeable and display resistant behaviors. The study contributes to the leadership literature, particularly on abusive supervision and personality. Moreover, our findings have practical implications for employees to manage their work relationships with their supervisors or subordinates.

Reactions from the Dark Side: How Does the Dark Tetrad Affect Responses to Daily Abusive Supervision Today and Tomorrow?

Abusive supervision is a widely-studied phenomenon experienced by a multitude of workers across organizations and occupations. It has typically been conceptualized as a chronic phenomenon with negative outcomes. However, preliminary evidence indicates that conceptualizing abusive supervision as constant may not be accurate, and that its outcomes may vary temporally. This study uses a within-person approach to capture the dynamic nature of abusive supervision and subordinate responses more fully. We surveyed 102 full-time employees from the U.S. who responded to 932 daily surveys assessing personality, workplace behaviors, and justice perceptions. Daily abuse led to lower perceptions of justice and increased retaliation on the same day, but not the following days. Rather, employees who engaged in workplace deviance more often reported more abusive supervision, potentially as a justification for their behavior. Further, justice perceptions predicted increased reports of abuse, indicating that this may be a circular relationship instead of a unidirectional one. Finally, narcissism exacerbated the relationships explored. These results can be used to implement interventions directed at both supervisor behavior and subordinate perceptions and behaviors.

Abusive leadership: A moderated-mediation through leader-member exchange and by organizational politics

Abusive leadership has been shown to have adverse consequences for both the employees and the organization. In the current paper, the impacts of such a leadership style on workers’ turnover intentions (TIs), counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) are investigated through a dyadic lens—the mediation of leader-member exchange (LMX). Furthermore, when the workplace atmosphere is also tainted by high level of perceived organizational politics (POP) (as a moderator), these relationships deepen and and/or change (for the worse). To test the moderated-mediation research model, an online sample of 619 participants was obtained. The results support an interesting moderated-mediation of LMX by POP. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations and future research suggestions are discussed.

Will Abusive Supervision Promote Subordinates’ Voluntary Learning Behavior?

Abusive supervision was traditionally viewed as a unidimensional construct and found detrimental in various fields, while there may be subdimensions associating with different consequences. This study aims to justify two subdimensions of abusive supervision, namely overt abusive supervision and covert abusive supervision, and investigate their effects on subordinates’ voluntary learning behavior, with public self-consciousness as a moderator. Data was acquired from a sample of 443 employees from China through a two-wave survey, and hypotheses were tested by hierarchical regression analysis. The empirical results demonstrated that overt abusive supervision promotes subordinates’ voluntary learning behavior at lower levels of public self-consciousness and hinders it otherwise, while covert abusive supervision promotes subordinates’ voluntary learning behavior homogeneously at different levels of public self-consciousness. The results suggest that supervisors could be mean and critical when encouraging subordinates to improve themselves, with subordinates’ public self-consciousness taken into consideration. However, abusive supervision should never be overused, not only because it is unethical and detrimental in many other fields, but also because the abused subordinates may just be preparing for leaving.

Encouraging Brand Evangelism Through Failure Attribution and Recovery Justice: The Moderating Role of Emotional Attachment

Brand evangelism is essential to the profitability of e-shops, but the effects of failure attribution and recovery justice in encouraging brand evangelism in the online service recovery context are not straightforward. Grounded on a framework integrating Attribution theory, Justice theory, and Attachment theory, this study explores whether failure attribution and recovery justice affect brand evangelism through recovery satisfaction with emotional attachment as a moderator. We gathered 400 samples from e-shoppers who encountered a service failure and recovery in the past year to verify the hypotheses using structural equation modeling and multiple-group analysis. Results declare that failure attribution (locus, stability, and controllability) and recovery justice (distributive, procedural, and interactional justice) are significantly related to recovery satisfaction and subsequent brand evangelism. Moreover, failure attribution (locus, stability, and controllability) correlates significantly with recovery justice (distributive, procedural, and interactional justice). In addition, emotional attachment plays a moderating role on the relationships between distributive and procedural justice on recovery satisfaction. This work contributes to brand evangelism research by giving a different perspective (i.e., service recovery) to comprehend what stimulate or deter brand evangelism. In addition, this work develops service recovery research through the combination of the third dimension of attribution (locus) and fourth dimension of justice (informational justice) into a framework, investigating the effect of failure attribution on recovery justice, and revealing the moderating effect of emotional attachment in the recovery process.

The good side of authoritarian leaders: leader in the eyes of the subordinates

Although subordinate's perception of authoritarian leadership is viewed derogatively in the leadership literature, limited studies still claim that it can positively influence subordinate's performance. Drawing from the attribution theory, we hypothesize and demonstrate that subordinate's perception of authoritarian leadership can have a positive, indirect effect on subordinate task performance through the subordinate-attributed performance promotion motive, but only when the subordinate's perception of leader's expert power is high. We found support for our hypothesized model using multisource data collected from 246 subordinates and 76 supervisors from 11 different private sector organizations in Pakistan.

The Effect of Daily Fluctuation of Abusive Supervision over Employees Positive and Negative Emotions, and Recovery Experience

Abusive supervision impacts employees' emotions negatively and creates feelings of shame and fear. But it remains unclear how daily employees' positive and negative emotions are affected and if they can recover. Applying the affective event theory and job demands-resources model we hypothesized that daily abusive supervision influences employees' positive and negative emotions fluctuation over the day, recovery after work, and employee emotions the next morning. Two daily surveys were answered by 52 Mexican employees for ten days providing 347 registers in the morning and 255 in the afternoon. Hierarchical linear modeling shows alteration of positive and negative emotions in the afternoon and next day, and a positive effect over recovery in relaxation, mastery and control restoring positive emotions. However, negative emotions cannot be recovered for the following day. Additionally, we found effects of predictive variables, as the days of the week go by, positive emotions in the afternoon and negative emotions in the morning decrease. Gender shows for men a more negative effect on positive emotions in the afternoon, next morning and on mastery-recovery. Marital status revealed effect over married individuals incrementing the four recovery dimensions, increasing positive emotions, and reducing negative emotions in the afternoon and next morning. Tenure has an effect over abusive supervision, the longer employees in the company, more likely they suffer abusive supervision. We show how employees restore positive emotions after daily recovery and that negative emotions cannot be recovered for the following day; revealing how abusive managers cause emotional damage to employees every day.

Unbalanced, Unfair, Unhappy, or Unable? Theoretical Integration of Multiple Processes Underlying the Leader Mistreatment-Employee CWB Relationship with Meta-Analytic Methods

Although a litany of theoretical accounts exists to explain why mistreated employees engage in counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs), little is known about whether these mechanisms are complementary or mutually exclusive, or the effect of context on their explanatory strength. To address these gaps, this meta-analytic investigation tests four theoretically-derived mechanisms simultaneously to explain the robust relationship between leader mistreatment and employee CWB: (1) a social exchange perspective, which argues that mistreated employees engage in negative reciprocal behaviors to counterbalance experienced mistreatment; (2) a justice perspective, whereby mistreated employees experience moral outrage and engage in retributive behaviors against the organization and its members; (3) a stressor-emotion perspective, which suggests that mistreated employees engage in CWBs to cope with their negative affect; and (4) a self-regulatory perspective, which proposes that mistreated employees are simply unable to inhibit undesirable behaviors. Moreover, we also examine whether the above model holds across cultures that vary on power distance. Our meta-analytic structural equation model demonstrated that all but the justice mechanism significantly mediated the relationship between leader mistreatment and employee CWBs, with negative affect emerging as the strongest explanatory mechanism in both high and low power distance cultures. Given these surprising results, as the stressor-emotion perspective is less frequently invoked in the literature, this paper highlights not only the importance of investigating multiple mechanisms together when examining the leader mistreatment-employee CWB relationship, but also the need to develop more nuanced theorizing about these mechanisms, particularly for negative affect.

Abusive supervision: a content analysis of theory and methodology

Purpose

Despite recent organizational behavior studies have witnessed considerable progress in abusive supervision research; some demerits for both theory and methodology still remain in the past years. To clarify the current state of knowledge in the field, this study aims to analyze the current state of theories and methods on abusive supervision and provides a detailed future research agenda.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper conducted a literature review for both theory and methodology of the abusive supervision research using a content analysis of 134 publications.

Findings

For the theory part, this paper summarized the theories that had been applied to explain the relationship between abusive supervision and its consequences as well as antecedents. For the methodology part, this paper outlined some critical issues regarding country of origin, research design, measurement, analysis strategy and also summarized with a discussion of the relationship between methodological issues and article impact. Finally, this paper concluded by presenting an agenda for future abusive supervision research regarding both theory and methodology.

Originality/value

First, this paper summarizes the main theories, antecedents and consequences often used in abusive supervision research to allow scholars to carry out theoretically driven research investigating abusive supervision in the future. Second, through a content analysis of the methods sections of abusive supervision research in the samples (i.e. country of origin, research design, measurement and analytical procedures), this paper identified the potential reasons underlying the inconsistency in the conclusions of abusive supervision research and provide some guidance for future empirical studies. Third, based on the qualitative review, this paper provides an agenda for future research investigating abusive supervision by developing a content-specific theoretical framework to benchmark abusive supervision research against other research related to leadership and offers an accurate response to scholars’ criticisms of abusive supervision research.

Does abusive supervision lead nurses to suffer from workplace violence? A cross-sectional study

AIM

This study aimed to (1) assess the current status of Chinese nurses' exposure to workplace violence; (2) identify the cluster of interrelationships between abusive supervision, anxiety and depression symptoms, work ability, and workplace violence in nursing settings; and (3) clarify the functional mechanism among these variables.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted online from September to October 2020 in China. A total of 1,221 valid questionnaires were collected across 100 cities in 31 provinces.

RESULTS

Approximately 67.57% of participants experienced workplace violence in the past one year, in the types of verbal violence (59.71%), made difficulties (43.16%), mobbing behaviour (26.70%), smear reputation (22.52%), physical violence (11.30%), intimidating behaviour (10.16%) and sexual harassment (4.10%), respectively. Moreover, nurses' exposure to workplace violence was significantly and positively influenced by the perceptions of abusive supervision (β = 0.209, p < .01) and the symptoms of anxiety and depression (β = 0.328, p < .01). Anxious and depressive symptoms partly mediated the association between abusive supervision and workplace violence, which were significantly moderated by work ability (β = -0.021, p < .05).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study assesses the prevalence of the seven types of workplace violence against Chinese nurses. Majority of nurses have experienced different types of workplace violence. Nurses who are abused by their supervisor are more likely to develop poor psychological health than those who are not. Moreover, nurses' positive association of abusive supervision with workplace violence is more notable among nurses with lower work ability. IMPLICATIONS OF NURSING MANAGEMENT: 'No abusive supervision, no workplace violence'. A harmonious nursing environment needs to be provided to minimize exposure to workplace violence and mental health threats towards nursing staff, which is a key point for hospital administrators and health policymakers. Essential work ability should be developed to reduce the damage of the abusive supervision and workplace violence against nurses.

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.

A leadership model for high-intensity organizational contexts

Purpose

This paper aims to offer a new leadership perspective based on the premise that leader effectiveness depends on the context in which leadership behaviors are enacted.

Design/methodology/approach

Literature in the areas of abusive supervision and leadership were reviewed. Using social learning and attribution theories, this study develops propositions regarding the role of perceived abusive supervision in high vs low-intensity organizations.

Findings

In this theoretical account, this paper distinguishes between low and high-intensity work organizational contexts articulating a rationale for conditions appropriate for directive leadership. This paper posits that while directive leadership will be more prevalent in high-intensity contexts, it will be specifically targeted toward poor performers, those with personality characteristics that are tied to poor performance and those engaging in deviant behaviors. This study proposes that outcomes of directive leadership will depend on how it aligns with organizational norms and culture and the causality attributed to such behaviors.

Research limitations/implications

Recent leadership theories focus on nurturing and providing support to followers. This paper posits that such theories are suited to low-intensity organizations. This study offers a counterintuitive perspective in proposing that directive leadership which involves inducing stress, will lead to better outcomes in high-intensity organizational contexts. This paper offers testable propositions and avenues for future research on directive leadership in high-intensity organizational contexts.

Practical implications

Based on the premise that leadership is context-dependent, this study proposes that directive leadership is best suited in high-intensity organizational contexts, which is a novel proposal. Even within these high-intensity contexts, such leadership, this paper proposes will be targeted toward poor performers and employees with characteristics that are tied to poor performance and violation of organizational norms.

Social implications

Examination of the role of directive leadership in high intensity, clan culture organizations may facilitate understanding that effective leadership styles may differ depending upon the organization context.

Originality/value

Based on the premise that leadership is context-dependent, this study presents a novel proposal that directive leadership is most suited to high-intensity organizational contexts. Even within these high-intensity contexts, such leadership, this paper posits will be targeted toward poor performers and employees with personality characteristics associated with poor and deviant performance.

How does abusive supervision hurt employees? The role of positive psychological capital

Purpose

The purpose of this research was to understand the mediating role of employee positive psychological capital on the negative relationship between abusive supervision and employee outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

The research design consisted of a multi-wave study with a heterogeneous sample of working adults in the United States. Study variables included the independent variable of abusive supervision, the mediating variable of positive psychological capital and the dependent variables of psychological well-being, job satisfaction and general health.

Findings

Results from 293 working adults in the United States suggest employee positive psychological capital is an explanatory mechanism as a mediator in the relationship between abusive supervision and outcomes. In other words, abusive supervisors reduce employee psychological capital leading to sub-optimal outcomes.

Practical implications

Results of this study suggest several practical implications, however one is primary. In sum, we found the deleterious effects of abusive supervisors occur through positive psychological capital. While it is often difficult to immediately terminate manager employment for abusive supervision, results here suggest firms can use psychological capital interventions to buffer the negative impact of abusive supervisors.

Originality/value

It is well understood that abusive supervision has a negative impact on employees. However, the underlying mechanisms of how and why this occurs is not well understood. While much research has speculated on why this happens prior to this study, few explanatory mechanisms have been subjected to empirical tests.

Abusive supervision and workplace deviance: the role of negative reciprocity

Purpose

This study aims to explore the process that, from abusive supervision, leads to the different kinds of workplace deviant behaviors, using the norm of negative reciprocity as the main mechanism that can trigger this process.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on a literature review from organizational behavior and reciprocity fields and builds a theoretical model on the relationship between abusive supervision and workplace deviance within organizations.

Findings

This study develops a theoretical model where abusive supervision causes a feeling of injustice, which can motivate employees to seek revenge in the form of workplace deviant behaviors. Moreover, negative direct balanced reciprocity will moderate the relationship between the desire for revenge and minor interpersonal workplace deviance; negative direct non-balanced reciprocity will moderate the relationship between the desire for revenge and severe interpersonal workplace deviance; negative generalized balanced reciprocity will moderate the relationship between the desire for revenge and minor organizational workplace deviance; negative generalized non-balanced reciprocity will moderate the relationship between the desire for revenge and severe organizational workplace deviance.

Originality/value

Previous studies have used negative reciprocity as a moderator, but for the first time, it is split in direct and generalized and in balanced and non-balanced. In particular, when direct negative reciprocity is present, the revenge will take the form of interpersonal workplace deviance; when generalized negative reciprocity is present, the revenge will take the form of organizational workplace deviance. On the other side, when balanced reciprocity is present, revenge will take the form of minor workplace deviance, while when non-balanced reciprocity is present, revenge will take the form of severe workplace deviance.

Who influences employees’ dark side: A multi-foci meta-analysis of counterproductive workplace behaviors

We adopt a multi-foci perspective to provide a theory-driven quantitative review of employee counterproductive workplace behaviors (CWBs) by meta-analyzing the relationships between CWB and four groups of antecedents. Specifically, CWB antecedents stemming from four sources—supervisors, organization, coworkers, and private life—were included to investigate differences in their relationships with employee CWB. Based on the Conservation of Resources Theory, we argue that favorable and unfavorable correlates relate to employee CWB to different degrees. The meta-analysis included 181 field studies with 223 independent samples. Results indicated that unfavorable antecedents correlate more strongly with CWB than favorable antecedents. We also found that supervisor- and organization-related antecedents have stronger relationships with CWB than those from the two other groups. Implications include a deeper understanding of which situational factors relate the most—or least—to CWB which can help better address CWB in the workplace.

Dark tetrad personality traits and counterproductive work behavior among doctors in Pakistan

The purpose of this article is to identify the effects of dark tetrad personality traits (such as narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism and sadism) on counterproductive work behavior with the mediating role of psychological contract breach and the moderating effect of political skills. Previous researches have focused on the direct effect of the dark triad to measure the counterproductive work behavior of individuals. Recently, everyday sadism has been added to the dark triad and become dark tetrad personality traits. Therefore, this study examines the dark tetrad personality traits to study counterproductive work behavior. This study applied structural equation modeling using partial least square to test the hypotheses on a sample of 400 doctors from the health sector of Pakistan. The results of this study reveal that dark tetrad has a positive and significant effect on counterproductive work behavior, and psychological contract breach significantly partially mediates in the relationship between dark tetrad and counterproductive work behavior. Furthermore, findings show that the moderating effect of political skills also positively and significantly strengthening the link between dark tetrad and the psychological contract breach. The conclusion of this study is made an innovative contribution to the Pakistan health sector, researchers and policy makers to designing the relevant practical implications.

How do the Employees’s Perceptions of Abusive Supervision Affect Customer Satisfaction in the Chain Restaurants? Employee-Customer Level Analysis

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of chain restaurant employees’ perception of abusive supervision on employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. The sample for the survey was collected from 228 customers and 93 employees in a chain restaurant. The results showed a negative relationship between abusive supervision and employee satisfaction. However, abusive supervision did not have a significant, direct effect on customer satisfaction, but showed an indirect effect via employee satisfaction. In addition, employee satisfaction was positively associated with customer satisfaction.

Goal Commitment Buffers the Negative Effects of Perceived Abusive Supervision

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.

The antecedents and consequences of psychological capital: a meta-analytic approach

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to focus on psychological capital (PsyCap) – one of the emerging topics of human resource management, by examining its antecedents and outcomes through the lens of social exchange theory.

Design/methodology/approach

A meta-analytic approach was applied to validate the proposed hypotheses. Altogether, 105 primary studies published between 2000 and 2018 were collected and used.

Findings

Results show that leadership styles (authentic leadership, ethical leadership, abusive leadership) and organizational support are antecedents and desirable work attitudes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior) are consequences of PsyCap. Employee’s characteristics significantly moderated the relationship between PsyCap and work attitudes.

Originality/value

This was the first attempt to examine PsyCap in a theoretical framework with its antecedents and outcomes and furthermore, to apply a meta-analytic method. The moderating role of employee characteristics in the relationship between PsyCap and work attitudes is also explored.

Coping With Perceived Abusive Supervision: The Role of Paranoia

Two studies (a cross-sectional survey of 90 U.K. workers and an experiment with 100 U.K. workers) examined the cognitive and behavioral effects of abusive supervision. Both studies confirmed the hypothesis that workers who experience abusive supervision show paranoia and that makes them more prone to a type of cognitive error called the “sinister attribution error.” This is where workers misattribute innocent workplace events such as tripping over something or hearing colleagues laughing to malevolent motives such as wanting to harm or mock them. Study 1 also showed that abusive supervision is associated with lower well-being. Perceived organizational support buffers these effects, and this is associated with workers making fewer sinister attribution errors, thereby protecting well-being. Study 2 explored the role of contextual cues by exposing workers to images of abusive supervision. This increased their paranoia and contributed to workers making sinister attribution errors when they were asked to interpret workplace events. Moreover, depending on the types of contextual cues, workers were more likely to express the intention of workplace deviance after thinking about past experiences of abusive supervision. We recommend that corporate ethical responsibilities include training managers and workers about the negative cognitive and mental health effects of abusive supervision.

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.

Abusive Supervision and Job Dissatisfaction: The Moderating Effects of Feedback Avoidance and Critical Thinking

Although research on the antecedents of job dissatisfaction has been developed greatly, we know little about the role of abusive supervision in generating job dissatisfaction. The contingencies under which abusive supervision relates to employees’ job dissatisfaction are still unknown. The present study aimed to fill this research gap by empirically exploring the abusive supervision-job dissatisfaction relationship as well as examining the moderating roles of feedback avoidance and critical thinking on this relationship. We tested the hypotheses with data from a sample of 248 employees from a high-tech communications company in northern China and found that: (a) abusive supervision was positively related to job dissatisfaction; (b) the positive relationship was moderated by both employees’ feedback avoidance and critical thinking. We conclude by extracting the theoretical as well as practical contributions, along with a discussion of the promising directions for future research.

Abusive Supervision and Negative Employee outcomes: The Moderating Effects of Intimidation and Recognition

Given the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study examines the moderating effects of intimidation and recognition on the relationship between abusive supervision and a subordinate's job tension, emotional exhaustion, and turnover intention. Consistent with past research, the study found a positive relationship between abusive supervision and negative employee outcomes. However, regardless of the strong theoretical and empirical literature support for the moderating effects of intimidation and recognition on the direct relationship of abusive supervision and negative employee outcomes, empirical data did not reveal any moderating effects of the moderating variables, neither as a single construct nor as a combined construct. For the study, data has been collected through a convenient sampling technique from 443 professional employees in the telecommunications sector in Pakistan. The study contributes to the literature by focusing on the largely ignored subordinate's impression management tactic (e.g. intimidation) and the top management's recognition of the subordinate's job, on the relationship between abusive supervision and negative employee outcomes. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed in the conclusion.

Exploring the impact of workplace cyberbullying on trainee doctors

OBJECTIVES

Workplace bullying is an occupational hazard for trainee doctors. However, little is known about their experiences of cyberbullying at work. This study examines the impact of cyberbullying among trainee doctors, and how attributions of blame for cyberbullying influence individual and work-related outcomes.

METHODS

Doctors at over 6 months into training were asked to complete an online survey that included measures of cyberbullying, blame attribution, negative emotion, job satisfaction, interactional justice and mental strain. A total of 158 trainee doctors (104 women, 54 men) completed the survey.

RESULTS

Overall, 73 (46.2%) respondents had experienced at least one act of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying adversely impacted on job satisfaction (β = - 0.19; p < 0.05) and mental strain (β = 0.22; p < 0.001), although attributions of blame for the cyberbullying influenced its impact and the path of mediation. Negative emotion mediated the relationship between self-blame for a cyber-bullying act and mental strain, whereas interactional injustice mediated the association between blaming the perpetrator and job dissatisfaction.

CONCLUSIONS

Acts of cyberbullying had been experienced by nearly half of the sample during their training and were found to significantly relate to ill health and job dissatisfaction. The deleterious impact of cyberbullying can be addressed through both workplace policies, and training for trainee doctors and experienced medical professionals.

Skunked

Dysfunctional leaders are described in the research literature as those leaders who consistently place burdensome structures in the path of progress, intentionally or unintentionally violate psychological contracts, and generally treat their employees with a disrespectful approach. Research suggests that upward of 13% to 36% of employees in the United States work with a leader whose approach could be described as dysfunctional. Yet, research regarding this negative organizational phenomenon is surprisingly limited. Moreover, scholarship in the field of human resource development (HRD) is nearly void of research on this topic. The purpose of this integrative literature review was to examine the literature on dysfunctional leadership and to highlight conceptual links present across various streams of scholarship. Specifically, we systematically categorized the dysfunctional behaviors that leaders exhibit, highlighted the short- and long-term effects of working under a dysfunctional leader as well as documented the known strategies for working through the effects of dysfunction.

Yes, We're Fishing—In Rough Waters for Hard-to-Find Fish

In their focal article, Ruggs et al. (2013) outline the missed opportunities for researchers within industrial–organizational (I–O) psychology in examining marginalized employees. The authors identify seven groups as having been overlooked by I–O psychologists and thus deserving greater attention in the future. They conclude their focal article by noting that, “Instead of being on the front line serving as scientists and allies for those who are marginalized and treated poorly, we have let these individuals take a backseat while we have gone fishing.” We disagree with this assertion. It is not that we have gone fishing and ignored marginalized employees. Rather, we have gone fishing, in rough waters, to locate hard-to-find fish. We are not purposefully ignoring marginalized employees. On the contrary, we are conducting research while battling numerical representation issues and ethical and administration issues. The focus of our commentary is to highlight these challenges and offer suggestions for addressing them in an effort to assist researchers in actually doing what the authors of the focal article are calling for them to do—to successfully engage in more focused research on these under-represented members of the workforce.

Coping With Destructive Leadership

The emerging literature on destructive leadership has been mostly leader centric, often reducing followers to passive subordinates. In line with recent follower-focused approaches to leadership, this theoretical contribution aims at shedding light on the interaction process between leaders and followers and on the active part followers can play in triggering as well as curbing destructive leader behavior. Specifically, we analyze in what ways followers can cope with destructive leadership and how the confrontativeness of the chosen coping strategy in turn affects leaders’ perceptions and resultant behaviors. The proposed interaction model – where subordinate coping is both consequence and antecedent of destructive leadership – offers testable propositions for future research and opens up new avenues for understanding and handling destructive leadership.

Mediating toxic emotions in the workplace--the impact of abusive supervision

AIM

This study explores whether abusive supervision can effectively predict employees' counterproductive work behaviour (CWB) and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and the role of toxic emotions at work as a potential mediator of these relationships in nursing settings.

BACKGROUND

Workplace bullying is widespread in nursing. Despite the growing literature on abusive supervision and employees' counterproductive work behaviour and organisational citizenship behaviour, few studies have examined the relationships between abusive supervision and these work behaviours from the viewpoint of the victimed employee's emotion process.

METHODS

This study adopted a two-stage survey of 212 nurses, all of whom were employed by hospitals in Taiwan. Hypotheses were tested through the use of hierarchical multiple regression.

RESULTS

The results showed that abusive supervision was positively associated with toxic emotions. Moreover, toxic emotions could effectively predict nurses' counterproductive work behaviour and organisational citizenship behaviour. Finally, it was found that toxic emotions partially mediated the negative effects of abusive supervision on both work behaviours.

CONCLUSION

Toxic emotions at work are a critical mediating variable between abusive supervision and both counterproductive work behaviour and organisational citizenship behaviour. Hospital administrators can implement policies designed to manage events effectively that can spark toxic emotions in their employees.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Work empowerment may be an effective way to reduce counterproductive work behaviour and to enhance organisational citizenship behaviour among nurses when supervisors do not promote a healthy work environment for them.