Bad, mad, or glad? Exploring the relationship between leaders' appraisals or attributions of their use of abusive supervision and emotional reactions

Abstract

A large body of research has documented the ill effects of abusive supervision. However, this begs the question of why these behaviors continue to occur. To address this question, we contend that scholars need to understand how leaders—the perpetrators of these actions—make sense of abusive supervision. Specifically, drawing upon theories of appraisal and attribution, this paper examines leaders' cognitions of who is accountable for incidents of abusive supervision (i.e., the leader or the subordinate) and their future expectations (i.e., are individuals likely to engage in the same behaviors subsequently or are capable of change) and how these appraisals interact to shape emotional reactions. We conducted three complementary studies: a pilot study to identify relevant emotions, an event‐based experience sampling study (Study 1), and a retrospective recall study (Study 2). Accountability appraisals were associated with emotions, such that appraisals that oneself (vs. one's subordinate) was more responsible for the incident were linked to higher levels of guilt and shame. Although growth mindset moderated associations between accountability appraisals and emotions, it did so for different emotions across the two studies (i.e., hostility in Study 1 and shame in Study 2). Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Unraveling Abusive Supervision Climate in Aircrew Workplaces: The Roles of Temporary Organizational Features, Trust, and Gender Dynamics

“…Second, this study explores abusive supervision in temporary work environments, shedding light on perspectives that differ from those applied to permanent work settings. Traditional leadership theories attribute abusive supervision to long-term interactions between a paired supervisor–subordinate, emphasizing sustained animosity, continuous relationship dynamics, and escalated leader–member exchanges [ 8 , 71 ]. However, businesses in the 21st century require agility and adaptability to effectively respond to changing circumstances.…”

Beat People but Not Face: The Role of Perceived Face Threat in the Influence of Abusive Supervision on Employee Feedback Seeking

“…In the fierce market competition, the influence and control of leaders on enterprises play a crucial role in the survival and development of enterprises [ 53 , 54 ]. However, more and more studies have pointed out that a large number of destructive leadership behaviors exist in organizations, such as abusive supervision [ 27 , 55 ], which brings numerous negative impacts to both enterprises and employees [ 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ]. This paper further confirms this point through empirical research that abusive supervision will make employees feel face threat and thus reduce employees’ upward feedback-seeking behavior, which will have a negative impact on the sustainable development of both organizations and employees.…”

Rethinking abusive supervision: antecedents and reparative mechanisms of abusive supervision, including supervisor frustration, coworker support, guilt, and supervisor OCB in a mediated-moderation model

“…Coworker support is extensively studied, but its impact on minimizing supervisor frustration and preventing abuse is never investigated (De Clercq et al, 2020;Hao et al, 2022;Kim & Yun, 2015). As per the assumptions of AET, coworker support is a constant event and can significantly impact human relations at work (Shi et al, 2022). Coworker support can play a significant role in weakening the relationship between supervisor frustration and resulting abusive supervision.…”

“…When they feel guilt, supervisors are often reported to feel ashamed, thus the desire to repair the negative perceptions in the mind of their subordinates (Ilies et al, 2013). Supervisory guilt is perceived as a justification for abusive behavior Muhammad Kashif / Rehana Naheed / Shanika Wijenayake (Shen et al, 2022) as well as an enacted cost, thus it has the potential to trigger positive actions as a reparative mechanism (Shum et al, 2020).…”

“…Also, there is extensive research that investigates employee-led abuse, but the process by which individuals become abusive supervisors is unclear (Eissa & Lester, 2017;Zhang & Bednall, 2016). Some researchers have positioned the arousal of negative emotional responses as a consequence of abusive supervision (Afshan et al, 2022;Kashif et al, 2022;Shen et al, 2022). However, what triggers abuse is a question that remains unanswered (Fischer et al, 2021).…”