Victim and Culprit? The Effects of Entitlement and Felt Accountability on Perceptions of Abusive Supervision and Perpetration of Workplace Bullying

Although workplace bullying is common and has universally harmful effects on employees’ outcomes, little is known about workplace bullies. To address this gap in knowledge, we draw from the tenets of social exchange and displaced aggression theories in order to develop and test a model of workplace bullying that incorporates the effects of employees’ individual differences (i.e., entitlement), perceptions of their work environments (i.e., felt accountability), and perceptions of supervisory treatment (i.e., perceptions of abusive supervision) on their tendencies to bully coworkers. The results of mediated moderation analyses that examine responses from two samples of working adults (n _{Sample 1} = 396; n _{Sample 2} = 123) support our hypotheses. Specifically, we find evidence of an indirect relationship between entitlement and coworker bullying through perceptions of abusive supervision that is stronger for employees who report lower levels of felt accountability than employees who report higher levels of felt accountability. This study makes important theoretical and practical contributions to abusive supervision research, bullying research, and organizational efforts to promote ethical work environments devoid of interpersonal mistreatment by providing novel insight into how employees’ entitlement and felt accountability combine to influence their tendencies to perceive themselves as victims of abusive supervision and culprits of coworker bullying.     

What Have I Done to Deserve This? Effects of Employee Personality and Emotion on Abusive Supervision

Drawing on victim precipitation theory, we propose that certain employees are more likely to perceive abusive supervision because of their personality traits. Specifically, we hypothesize that subordinates’ emotional stability, conscientiousness, and agreeableness will be negatively related to perceived abuse from their supervisor and that negative emotions at work will mediate these relationships. We surveyed 222 employees and found that emotional stability and conscientiousness negatively predicted employees’ self-reports of abusive supervision and that this relationship was mediated by negative emotions. Thus, employees lower in emotional stability or conscientiousness are more likely to experience negative emotions, which in turn is related to higher levels of abuse.     

辱虐管理对下属工作绩效和离职意愿的影响: 领导认同和权力距离的作用

与以往基于社会交换、社会心理和社会比较视角的研究不同,本文基于社会认定视角,考察了下属对领导的认同在辱虐管理与下属工作绩效和离职意愿关系中的中介作用,以及下属权力距离导向在这一过程中的调节作用。以296名下属及其直接上司为研究对象,结果发现：(1) 辱虐管理会降低下属对领导的认同,并通过领导认同的中介作用对工作绩效和离职意愿产生影响;(2) 下属权力距离导向会调节辱虐管理与领导认同的关系,表现为对低权力距离导向的下属来说,辱虐管理对领导认同的负向影响相对更强。本文从新的理论视角解释了辱虐管理的作用,揭示了辱虐管理影响下属工作绩效和离职意愿的内在机制和作用条件。     

Examining the within-person effects of abusive supervision on multifoci deviance: Ethical climate as a moderator

We examine the dynamic mechanism by which daily abusive supervision affects daily multifoci deviance through daily negative emotion and investigate the boundary conditions of this mechanism. Using a daily diary sample from 73 employees completed with quantitative responses for five consecutive weekdays, we find that daily abusive supervision has a significant positive effect on daily organization-, supervisor-, coworker-, and customer-directed deviance and that daily negative emotion mediates these relationships. A supplementary study reveals that the indirect effect of daily abusive supervision on daily supervisor-directed deviance mainly occurs via anger and that the indirect effect of daily abusive supervision on daily organization-, coworker-, and customer-directed deviance mainly occurs via general negative emotions (distress and nervousness). The moderation results show that instrumental climate has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between negative emotion and customer- and coworker-directed deviant behavior. A caring climate has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between negative emotion and organization-, supervisor-, and coworker-directed deviant behavior. The other moderation effects are not supported. These findings can be used to manage deviant workplace behaviors.     

Standing by Your Organization: The Impact of Organizational Identification and Abusive Supervision on Followers’ Perceived Cohesion and Tendency to Gossip

Abusive supervision has been shown to have significant negative consequences for employees’ well-being, attitudes, and behavior. However, despite the devastating impact, it might well be that employees do not always react negatively toward a leader’s abusive behavior. In the present study, we show that employees’ organizational identification and abusive supervision interact for employees’ perceived cohesion with their work group and their tendency to gossip about their leader. Employees confronted with a highly abusive supervisor had a stronger perceived cohesion and engaged in less gossiping behavior when they identified more strongly with their organization. Our findings illustrate that organizational identification functions as a buffer for those confronted with an abusive supervisor.     

辱虐管理对服务偏差的影响机制：一项日记追踪研究

基于情感事件理论，从组织内部视角探究员工每日实施服务偏差行为的动态机制，即每日辱虐管理通过每日消极情绪动态影响每日服务偏差行为的动态作用机制，同时，基于控制理论探讨组织伦理氛围对服务偏差行为的干预效果。通过对服务型企业73名员工连续一周的日记追踪调研数据分析发现，每日辱虐管理对每日服务偏差具有显著的动态作用效果，每日消极情绪在该机制中起完全中介作用，自利氛围、关怀氛围能显著削弱每日消极情绪对每日服务偏差的正效应，规则氛围的调节作用不显著。研究结论对服务型企业有效抑制服务偏差行为，提高服务质量具有理论和实践意义。     

辱虐管理与员工沉默：基于社会认同和代际视角的研究

文章基于社会认同理论和代际视角,构建一个有调节的中介模型探究辱虐管理影响员工沉默的中介作用机制及其边界条件。通过对江苏省510名员工的调查发现,辱虐管理对三维沉默均有显著的正向影响;领导认同在辱虐管理与默许沉默、防御沉默、漠视沉默间起部分中介作用;代际差异调节领导认同在辱虐管理与默许沉默、漠视沉默间的中介效应,领导认同在辱虐管理与防御沉默间的中介作用不受代际影响;领导认同在辱虐管理影响新生代员工三维沉默过程中的中介作用不显著。     

辱虐管理激发员工的逢迎行为：自尊的中介作用和调节焦点的调节作用

文章基于资源保存理论,以283名MBA学员为样本,探讨辱虐管理通过自尊激发员工逢迎行为以及调节焦点在此过程所起的调节作用。结果表明：自尊部分中介了辱虐管理对逢迎行为的影响;促进焦点正向调节辱虐管理与自尊之间的关系,高促进焦点增强自尊对辱虐管理与逢迎行为关系的中介作用;防御焦点负向调节辱虐管理与自尊之间的关系,高防御焦点削弱自尊对辱虐管理与逢迎行为关系的中介作用。     

Impact of abusive supervision on deviant work behavior: The role of Islamic work ethic

In this article, we examined the relationship between abusive supervision and deviant workplace behavior and the moderating role of an Islamic Work Ethic. Three hundred and thirty‐six employees in different organizations (specializing in software development, medicine, law enforcement, telecommunication, pharmaceutics, and banking) across Pakistan completed our questionnaire. The results revealed that abusive supervision was positively related to deviant workplace behavior. Moreover, the moderation of an Islamic Work Ethic on the relationship between abusive supervision and deviant work behavior was confirmed. The study contributed in many ways. It expanded literature by revealing a weaker relationship between abusive supervision and deviant behavior when Islamic Work Ethic (IWE) was high. It also tested the conservation of resources theory by providing a plausible reasoning of the role of IWE in employee motivation. By integrating IWE as a resource in the workplace, practitioners would learn that the proper use of resources would produce satisfied workers who would not indulge in deviant workplace behaviors.     

Who do we blame for abusive supervision?

Research has looked extensively at one side of abusive supervision (that is employee perceptions) and subsequently linked this phenomenon to supervisors' actual behaviour. We address this research gap by investigating the other side—employee characteristics as a factor related to the perception of abusive supervision (AS). Data collected from 443 employees within the Pakistani telecommunications industry revealed that employees' intimidation behaviours was positively related to their perceptions of AS, mediated by emotional exhaustion. In addition, recognition (from top management) was found to moderate the indirect effects of intimidation on AS via emotional exhaustion. Our findings challenge the assumption that supervisors are to blame for exhibiting abusive behaviour and identify a new, underlying factor related to AS.     

Corporate Psychopaths,Bullying and Unfair Supervision in the Workplace

This article reports on empirical research that establishes strong, positive, and significant correlations between the ethical issues of bullying and unfair supervision in the workplace and the presence of Corporate Psychopaths. The main measure for bullying is identified as being the witnessing of the unfavorable treatment of others at work. Unfair supervision was measured by perceptions that an employee’s supervisor was unfair and showed little interest in the feelings of subordinates. This article discusses the theoretical links between psychopathy and bullying and notes that little empirical evidence confirms the connection in management research. The sample of 346 Australian senior white collar workers used in the research is described as is the measure of behavior for identifying psychopaths. The findings are then presented and discussed showing that when Corporate Psychopaths are present in a work environment, the level of bullying is significantly greater than when they are not present. Further, that when Corporate Psychopaths are present, supervisors are strongly perceived as being unfair to employees and disinterested in their feelings. This article concludes that around 26% of bullying is accounted for by 1% of the employee population, those who are Corporate Psychopaths.     

An Eye for an Eye Will Make the Whole World Blind: Conflict Escalation into Workplace Bullying and the Role of Distributive Conflict Behavior

The current study investigated how work-related disagreements—coined as conflicts—relate to workplace bullying, from the perspective of the target as well as the perpetrator. We hypothesized a positive indirect association between task conflicts and bullying through relationship conflicts. This process accounted for both for targets and perpetrators of bullying. Targets are distinguished from perpetrators in our assumption that this indirect effect is boosted by distributive conflict behavior, being yielding for targets and forcing for perpetrators. Results in a large representative sample of the Flemish working population (N = 2,029) confirmed our hypotheses. Additionally, our study also revealed a direct effect from task conflicts to bullying in the analyses regarding the indirect as well as the conditional indirect effects. For perpetrators, both the indirect and direct relationships are moderated by forcing, underlining the importance of distributive conflict behavior particularly for the enactment of bullying behaviors.     

Nightmare Bosses: The Impact of Abusive Supervision on Employees’ Sleep,Emotions, and Creativity

In the present study, we examine the process through which abusive supervision impacts employee creativity. Specifically, we test whether abusive supervision is associated with lower levels of employee creativity and if this effect is mediated by employee sleep deprivation and emotional exhaustion. Results showed that abusive supervision had an indirect negative relationship with employee creativity via its impact on employee sleep deprivation and emotional exhaustion. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the negative effects of abusive supervision on employee creativity and the processes by which they occur.     

Supervisors' overtime hours,abusive supervision and leader–member exchange: How supervisors' long work hours harm their relationships with subordinates

The current research examines the consequences of supervisors' overtime hours on subordinates. Drawing upon the stressor-emotion model of counterproductive behaviors, we argue that supervisors' overtime hours positively relate to abusive supervision behaviors through negative emotions, which in turn undermine leader–member exchange relationships. We further posit that this process is exacerbated among subordinates with a strong relational self-concept. Multisource multilevel data collected from an organizational sample of 181 employees and longitudinal data from 416 employees from multiple organizations support our predictions. This research indicates that the consequences of working overtime extend beyond supervisors, as subordinates may be negatively affected when their supervisors work long hours. We discuss implications for both theory and practice.     

Coping with Loneliness Through Materialism: Strategies Matter for Adolescent Development of Unethical Behaviors

Engaging in unethical consumption behaviors is an acute societal problem that can have severe consequences for adolescents, and businesses in particular have been accused of making such consumption particularly appealing and accessible. However, the causes of unethical behaviors are not well understood and research on the causes has been mixed. In this research, we investigate the effects of coping strategies for loneliness on adolescents’ adoption of unethical behaviors, a topic that business ethics research has not explored. In a large-scale study (n = 409) of adolescents (ages 13–17), we show that whether loneliness leads to the adoption of unethical behaviors depends on the strategies adolescents use to cope with their loneliness: active coping strategies are associated with fewer unethical behaviors, whereas passive coping strategies are associated with more unethical behaviors. In addition, we show that active and passive coping strategies can be executed through consumption practices. We show that the relation between active coping and fewer unethical behaviors is mediated by sharing of possessions, whereas the relation between passive coping strategies and more unethical behaviors is mediated by product acquisition. Finally, we also show that these mediated relations differ as a function of age cohort (grade level). The indirect effect of active coping on fewer unethical behaviors via sharing holds only for middle school adolescents, whereas the indirect effect of passive coping on more unethical behaviors via product acquisition holds only for high school adolescents. We shed new light on both the bright and dark sides of materialism and unethical behaviors and provide practical implications for research on loneliness, business ethics, and unethical behaviors.     

Exposure to workplace bullying and negative gossip behaviors: Buffering roles of personal and contextual resources

This study adds to business ethics research by investigating how employees' exposure to workplace bullying might spur their negative gossip behaviors, as well as how this effect might be buffered by their access to two personal resources (religiosity and innovation propensity) and two contextual resources (work meaningfulness and trust in top management). Survey data collected among Canadian-based employees who work in the religious sector reveal that workplace bullying increases the likelihood that they spread negative rumors about other organizational members, but this effect is weaker when employees (1) can draw from their religious faith, (2) are motivated to generate innovative ideas, (3) derive meaning from their work, and (4) have confidence in the trustworthiness of top management. For management scholars and practitioners, this study thus pinpoints different resources that diminish the risk that workplace bullying infuses work environments with even more negative energy, as might occur if bullying spills over into additional, negative gossip behaviors.     

辱虐管理对员工建言行为影响:组织自尊和个性控制点的作用

文章通过问卷调查和上下级之间的配对样本,探讨上级的辱虐管理对下级员工建言行为的影响及机制,尤其是研究组织自尊在其中的中介作用及员工个性控制点的调节作用.实证结果表明:辱虐管理对员工抑制性建言行为和促进性建言行为均有显著的负向影响,组织自尊在两者之间起到了完全中介的作用;员工个性控制点对辱虐管理和员工组织自尊之间的关系具有显著的调节作用,也就是说员工个性控制点水平越高(越内控),辱虐管理对组织自尊的负面影响就越小;当员工的个性控制点水平越低(越外控),辱虐管理对组织自尊的负面影响就越大.     

The Effect of Online Protests and Firm Responses on Shareholder and Consumer Evaluation

This study examined the link between employees’ adult attachment orientations and perceptions of line managers’ interpersonal justice behaviors, and the moderating effect of national culture (collectivism). Participants from countries categorized as low collectivistic (N = 205) and high collectivistic (N = 136) completed an online survey. Attachment anxiety and avoidance were negatively related to interpersonal justice perceptions. Cultural differences did not moderate the effects of avoidance. However, the relationship between attachment anxiety and interpersonal justice was non-significant in the Southern Asia (more collectivistic) cultural cluster. Our findings indicate the importance of ‘fit’ between cultural relational values and individual attachment orientations in shaping interpersonal justice perceptions, and highlight the need for more non-western organizational justice research.     

Abusive Supervision,Psychological Distress,and Silence: The Effects of Gender Dissimilarity Between Supervisors and Subordinates

Previous research has shed light on the detrimental effects of abusive supervision. To extend this area of research, we draw upon conservation of resources theory to propose (a) a causal relationship between abusive supervision and psychological distress, (b) a mediating role of psychological distress on the relationship between abusive supervision and employee silence, and (c) a moderating effect of the supervisor–subordinate relational context (i.e., gender dissimilarity) on the mediating effect of abusive supervision on silence. Through an experimental study (Study 1), we found the causal path linking abusive supervision and psychological distress. Results of both the experimental study and a field study (Study 2) provided evidence that psychological distress mediated the relationship between abusive supervision and silence. Lastly, we found support that this mediation effect was contingent upon the relational context in Study 2 but not in Study 1. We discuss implications for theory and practice.     

The Relationship Between Supervisor Personality,Supervisors’ Perceived Stress and Workplace Bullying

This study investigated the relationship between supervisor personality and subordinate reports of exposure to bullying and harassment at work. Three research questions were examined: (a) Is there a direct relationship between supervisor personality and reports of workplace bullying? (b) Is there an interaction between supervisor personality and supervisors’ perceived stress as predictors of workplace bullying? (c) Will subordinates who experience bullying at their workplace rate their supervisor’s personality more negatively (negative halo effect)? The sample consisted of 207 supervisors and employees within 70 Norwegian restaurants. Supervisors low on conscientiousness, high on neuroticism and portraying high levels of exposure to stress were the subject of significantly more reports from subordinates of exposure to workplace bullying. An interaction between agreeableness and stress was found showing that agreeableness is related to bullying under low levels of stress. In addition, subordinates who perceived their supervisor as being low on agreeableness and high on introversion reported significantly more workplace bullying, supporting a negative halo effect hypothesis.