Chinese Employees’ Psychological Responses to Abusive Supervisors

2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (3) ◽  
pp. 810-828 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rong Wang ◽  
Jiang Jiang ◽  
Liuqin Yang ◽  
Darius Kwan Shing Chan
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Exhaustion ◽  
Intent To Leave ◽  
Chinese Women ◽  
Abusive Supervision ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Moderating Effect ◽  
Conservation Of Resources ◽  
Psychological Responses ◽  
Interaction Data ◽  
Regression Analyses

Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, the relations between abusive supervision and emotional exhaustion and intent to leave were examined, as well as the gender differences in these relations. Moreover, the moderating effect of self-esteem was tested in an integrated model stipulating that the gender-moderating effect was mediated by the abusive supervision × self-esteem interaction. Data were collected from 264 employees (111 men; M age = 32.0 years; M tenure = 9.2 years). Results of regression analyses indicated that abusive supervision was positively correlated to emotional exhaustion and intent to leave. Women reported higher emotional exhaustion and intent to leave than men. The relations of interest were stronger among employees with higher self-esteem (emotional exhaustion: β = 0.44; intent to leave: β = 0.53). The interaction of abusive supervision × self-esteem mediated the gender-moderating effect. Women’s stronger responses to abusive supervision may be related to their higher self-esteem, possibly because of the importance of employment to Chinese women.

Abusive supervision and job outcomes: a moderated mediation study

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sajeet Pradhan ◽  
Lalatendu Kesari Jena
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Exhaustion ◽  
Abusive Supervision ◽  
Moderated Mediation ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Intention To Quit ◽  
Conservation Of Resources ◽  
Coworker Support ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Indirect Relationship

Purpose Based on the conservation of resources theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the linkage between abusive supervision (a workplace stressor) and subordinate’s intention to quit by focusing on the mediating role of emotional exhaustion. The study also explores the conditional mediation model by testing the moderational role of perceived coworker support on the mediated abusive supervision-intention to quit relationship via emotional exhaustion. Design/methodology/approach To test the proposed hypotheses, the study draws data from 382 healthcare employees working in several hospitals and clinics in the eastern and north-eastern states of India. The authors collected data on the predictor and criterion variables at two time points with a separation of three to four weeks in a reversed order to counter priming effect. Findings The findings of the study reported that emotional exhaustion partially mediated the abusive supervision-intention to quit relationship. The result also supported the assertion that perceived coworker support will moderate the relationship between abusive supervision and subordinate’s intention to quit. The authors also found support to the moderated mediation hypothesis, that suggest perceived coworker support will reduce the mediating effect of abusive supervision-intention to quit relationship via emotional exhaustion. Originality/value This study is among few empirical investigations to investigate and report the interactional effect of perceived coworker support (a buffer) on the indirect relationship between abusive supervision and subordinate’s intention to quit via emotional exhaustion.

scholarly journals When Employees are Emotionally Exhausted Due to Abusive Supervision. A Conservation-of-Resources Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (18) ◽  
pp. 3300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zubair Akram ◽  
Yan Li ◽  
Umair Akram
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Exhaustion ◽  
Job Demands ◽  
Abusive Supervision ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Work Behavior ◽  
Counterproductive Work Behaviors ◽  
Conservation Of Resources ◽  
Time Lagged ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

This study represents an important step towards understanding why supervisors behave abusively towards their subordinates. Building on the conservation of resources theory, this study investigates the impact of abusive supervision on counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) from a stress perspective. Furthermore, job demands play a significant moderating effect, and emotional exhaustion has a mediating effect on the relationship between abusive supervision and CWBs. A time-lagged design was utilized to collect the data and a total of 350 supervisors-subordinates’ dyads are collected from Chinese manufacturing firms. The findings indicate that subordinates’ emotional exhaustion mediates the relationship between abusive supervision and CWBs only when subordinates are involved in a high frequency of job demands. Additionally, emotional exhaustion and abusive supervision were significantly moderated by job demands. However, the extant literature has provided that abusive supervision has detrimental effects on employees work behavior. The findings of this study provide new empirical and theoretical insights into the stress perspectives. Finally, implications for managers and related theories are discussed, along with the boundaries and future opportunities of this study.

Subordinates’ negative workplace gossip leads to supervisor abuse: based on the conservation of resources theory

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cunjun Ye ◽  
Bin He ◽  
Xu Sun
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Abusive Supervision ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Conservation Of Resources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Internal Mechanism ◽  
Time Lagged

Purpose Based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this paper aims to explore the potential influence of perceived subordinates’ negative workplace gossip on abusive supervision in China. Moreover, the COR theory helps in examining the mediating role of self-esteem threat and psychological distress and the moderating role of mindfulness on the effects of perceived subordinates’ negative workplace gossip on abusive supervision. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected from 305 supervisor-subordinate dyads in China using the time-lagged and multi-source methods and hierarchical regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Findings Results reveal that perceived subordinates’ negative workplace gossip is positively related to abusive supervision and the relationship is moderated by the supervisor’s traits of mindfulness. In addition, perceived subordinates’ negative workplace gossip has an indirect effect on abusive supervision via self-esteem threat (cognition) and psychological distress (emotion). Originality/value The study helps to understand the influence of perceived subordinates’ negative workplace gossip on abusive supervision based on the COR theory. At the same time, it also enriches the understanding of the internal mechanism between perceived subordinates’ negative workplace gossip and abusive supervision.

scholarly journals Making the Customer Orientation of Salespeople Unsustainable—The Moderating Effect of Emotional Exhaustion

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lifang Shu ◽  
Haiying Wei ◽  
Leiqing Peng
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Exhaustion ◽  
Customer Orientation ◽  
Moderating Effect ◽  
Conservation Of Resources ◽  
Adaptive Selling ◽  
Sustainable Operation ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Adaptive Selling Behavior ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Positive Effect

Customer orientation of salespeople usually leads to a sustainable positive effect on job performance, yet previous research has usually focused on the benefits of functional customer orientation, and less is known about its relational customer orientation’s outcomes. Based on conservation of resources theory, this research focuses on both types of customer orientation, functional and relational customer orientation, and investigates the moderating effect of emotional exhaustion on the relationship between customer orientation and adaptive selling behavior. We collected 282 valid questionnaires from frontline salespeople in China. Results showed that functional/relational customer orientation was positively correlated with salespeople’s adaptive selling behavior. Salespeople’s emotional exhaustion moderates the main effect: when emotional exhaustion is high, the relationship between functional/relational customer orientation and adaptive selling behavior is substantially weakened. This study contributes to a further understanding of the sustainable operation environment for customer orientation, and provides practical implications regarding the attainment of sustainable outcomes of customer orientation.

The Trickle-Down Effect of Abusive Supervision: The Moderating Effects of Supervisors’ Task Performance and Employee Promotion Focus

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-255
Author(s):  
Seckyoung Loretta Kim ◽  
Soojin Lee ◽  
Seokhwa Yun
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Emotional Exhaustion ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Abusive Supervision ◽  
Situational Factor ◽  
Conservation Of Resources ◽  
Individual Factor ◽  
Promotion Focus ◽  
Supervisor Behavior ◽  
Trickle Down

Drawing on both social learning theory and conservation of resources theory, our research examines the trickle-down effect of abusive supervision across three hierarchical levels: managers, supervisors, and employees. Specifically, we investigate the positive relationship between abusive manager behavior and emotional exhaustion through abusive supervisor behavior. In addition, we explore supervisor task performance as a situational factor and employee promotion focus as an individual factor in the relationship between abusive supervisor behavior and emotional exhaustion. Using data from 190 supervisor–subordinate dyads, the results provide support for our trickle-down model of abusive supervision. Moreover, our results show that the positive relationship between abusive supervisor behavior and emotional exhaustion is stronger when supervisor task performance or employee promotion focus is high. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.

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