Scholars have clearly demonstrated that abusive supervision can precipitate a variety of destructive reactions from employees. Employees, however, do not universally reciprocate mistreatment with their own destructive behaviour and yet our current understanding of how victims of abusive supervision might choose to react less destructively, or potentially constructively, is still limited. Further, we lack a sufficient understanding of the psychological mechanisms that help explain why employees may react less destructively to abusive supervision. Drawing from appraisal theories of emotions, this research investigates whether the emotion of shame helps to explain why employees might engage in exemplification as a relatively constructive coping strategy in response to abusive supervision. An experimental (Study 1) and a field study (Study 2) found that shame mediated the effect of abusive supervision on employee exemplification. We further examined locus of control as a moderator of the indirect relationship between abusive supervision and exemplification and found individuals with internal (compared to external) locus of control were more likely to experience shame from abusive supervision and cope with shame by engaging in exemplification. In turn, the positive relationship between abusive supervision and exemplification, via shame, was strengthened for individuals with internal locus of control. Practitioner points Practicing managers should help guide employees to make more informed judgements about how to react to abuse in ways that are most suitable for their well‐being and career. Common reactions such as leaving the organization or retaliating against the abusive supervisor may not be a good personal and professional choice for employees. As such, employees should know that there are other viable avenues, such as engaging in exemplification, that can help cope with shame induced by abusive supervision. Organizations should identify formal procedures and practices that reward and celebrate employees that go above and beyond. If employees perceive that their exemplification has gone unnoticed, they may feel that their self‐concept is not being restored at their desired rate, consequently driving employees to cope with the feeling of shame through withdrawal (e.g., turnover).
Purpose Despite its prevalence in organizations, passive leadership has received scant research attention compared to more active forms of leadership. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the significant impact that passive leadership can have on two core constructs in the organizational sciences – trust and perceptions of fairness. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through self-report questionnaires (n=192), using a three-wave survey methodology in order to provide temporal separation between the predictor, mediator, and outcome variables. Findings Passive leadership was negatively associated with cognition-based trust. Further, passive leadership exerted a negative indirect effect on employee perceptions of justice, through cognition-based trust. Research limitations/implications Although this research was explicitly interested in employee perceptions, the use of self-report measures may be considered a study limitation. Practical implications This study underscores that passive leadership may represent a serious impediment to effective supervisor-employee relations. Employees do not trust supervisors who display a passive leadership style and a lack of trust can lead employees to perceive the supervisor as unfair. Originality/value This study contributes new insights into the psychological effects of passive leadership behavior by demonstrating the potential role of passive leadership in shaping employee perceptions of trust and fairness.
Despite its prevalence, high cost, and practical import, employee time theft has received scant research attention.To facilitate future scholarship on this important topic, the present research endeavors to clarify the conceptualization of time theft and advance understanding regarding the range of its behavioral manifestations, develop and validate an instrument to assess time theft, and provide preliminary insights into its nomological net. Results, gathered across nine samples of employees who are paid on an hourly wage scale, suggest that time theft is a multidimensional formative construct, is distinct from other deviant work behaviors (e.g., withdrawal, property theft), and is influenced by instrumental (e.g., pay satisfaction) and expressive motives (e.g., boredom). Finally, time theft explained incremental variance in criterion variables (e.g., receipt or enactment of interpersonal help) controlling for the effects of other discrete manifestations of deviance (e.g., withdrawal). Implications for future scholarship and managerial practice are discussed.
PurposeDespite its practical importance, the emotion of awe has received scant research attention in the organizational literature. To facilitate future scholarship on this important topic, the authors explore and compare the elicitors of awe at work in three countries representing two culture clusters, including the USA and Canada (the Anglo cluster) and China (the Confucian Asia cluster).Design/methodology/approachThe authors gathered responses from 163 working adults from the USA and Canada and 126 working adults from China using open-response survey, and analyzed each response following the guidance of grounded theory.FindingsAcross cultures, there are 10 common elicitors of awe, including virtue of organization, ability and achievement of organization, beauty of workplace, virtue of colleagues, ability and achievement of colleagues, dedication of colleagues, charisma of colleagues, status and power of colleagues, personal growth and achievement and perceived meaningfulness. Looking within cultures, the authors found two awe elicitors that are specific to China: status and power of organization, and work content.Practical implicationsOrganizations and supervisors wishing to induce the emotion of awe would be well-advised to pay attention to the design of their workplace, as well as their attitudes and behaviors toward employees, customers and the general public.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the emotion literature, organizational literature and cross-cultural literature by demonstrating elicitors of awe in the workplace across the Anglo cluster and the Confucian Asia cluster.
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