Linking workplace deviance and abusive supervision: moderating role of positive psychological capital

Abstract

Workplace deviance is one of the undesirable behaviors which is responded by employees due to abusive supervision in the workplace. Abusive supervision is one of the crucial topics in the knowledge of the body of management literature. The employees display aggression and retaliation behavior against supervisor interpersonal mistreatment, and ultimately employees engage with deviant behavior. Psychological capital reduces the effect of workplace deviance in the presence of abusive supervision. This study presents a motivational model of how to decrease the effect of workplace deviance in the presence of abusive supervision. The total sample size was 300 pharmaceutical representatives, and simple random sampling technique was used. The structural equation modelling (SEM) technique was used, and the study found that psychological capital moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and employee workplace deviance. Practical implications give few reasons for abusive supervision and guidelines on how to reduce the influence of deviant behaviors and offer new directions for future research and report unexplored theoretical predictions.

Abusive supervision and workplace deviance: the role of negative reciprocity

“…Abusive supervision is considered as related to an abuse of hierarchical power (Vredenburgh and Brender, 1998), which, in turn, has been related to workplace deviance (Lawrence and Robinson, 2007; Mitchell and Ambrose, 2007; Park et al , 2019; Raza et al , 2019). More precisely, Vredenburgh and Brender (1998, p. 1339) define the hierarchical abuse of power as “acts which manifest disrespect for a subordinate’s dignity or provide obstacles to a subordinate’s performance or deserved rewards.” Abusive supervision and the abuse of hierarchical power can be incentivized because of its importance in affecting action and acquiring rewards and its status as a valued resource.…”

“…Moreover, abusive supervision is related to lower levels of satisfaction, commitment and justice perceptions and higher levels of turnover, role conflict and psychological distress; it may cause feelings of frustration, helplessness and alienation, as well as perceptions of injustice (Mitchell and Ambrose, 2007). Many studies on abusive supervision have focused on its negative effects, such as a reduction of commitment and citizenship (Aryee et al , 2007; Zellars et al , 2002) or job satisfaction (Bowling and Michel, 2011; Tepper, 2000), the rise of intention to quit (Tepper, 2000), workplace deviance (Mitchell and Ambrose, 2007; Park et al , 2019; Raza et al , 2019) and other retaliatory behaviors (Liu et al , 2010).…”

Employee state paranoia: linking abusive supervision with employee voice behavior

“…Abusive supervision lowers employee engagement in organizational citizenship behavior and fuels their intention to quit (Rice et al , 2020). These detrimental effects of abusive supervision at workplace call for comprehending and addressing it in a timely manner (Ahmad and Begum, 2020; Martinko et al , 2013; Raza et al , 2019).…”

Linking Self-efficacy and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…The negative impact of incivility on organizational commitment and job satisfaction has been reported in several studies (Lim & Teo, 2009;Reio & Ghosh, 2009). Furthermore, the supervisor related incivility that catalyst employee withdrawal behaviors (Raza, Ahmed, Zubair, Moueed, 2019;Sliter, Sliter, & Jex, 2012). At the same time, incivility by coworkers has shown an increase in problems related to health (Kobayashi, Kaneyoshi, Yokota, & Kawakami, 2008;Whitaker, 2001).…”