Abusive supervision and subordinate performance: Instrumentality considerations in the emergence and consequences of abusive supervision - Research portal of Justus Liebig University Giessen:

Journal article

Abusive supervision and subordinate performance: Instrumentality considerations in the emergence and consequences of abusive supervision

Authors list: Walter, Frank; Lam, Catherine K.; van der Vegt, Gerben S.; Huang, Xu; Miao, Qing

Publication year: 2015

Pages: 1056-1072

Journal: Journal of Applied Psychology

Volume number: 100

Issue number: 4

ISSN: 0021-9010

eISSN: 1939-1854

Open access status: Green

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038513

Publisher: American Psychological Association

Abstract:
Drawing from moral exclusion theory, this article examines outcome dependence and interpersonal liking as key boundary conditions for the linkage between perceived subordinate performance and abusive supervision. Moreover, it investigates the role of abusive supervision for subordinates' subsequent, objective work performance. Across 2 independent studies, an experimental scenario study (N = 157; Study 1) and a time-lagged field study (N = 169; Study 2), the negative relationship between perceived subordinate performance and abusive supervision was found to hinge on a supervisor's outcome dependence on subordinates but not on a supervisor's liking of subordinates. Furthermore, Study 2 demonstrated (a) a negative association between abusive supervision and subordinates' subsequent objective performance and (b) a conditional indirect effect of perceived performance on subsequent objective performance, through abusive supervision, contingent on the degree of outcome dependence, although these relationships did not reach conventional significance levels when controlling for prior objective performance. All in all, the findings highlight the role of instrumentality considerations in relation to abusive supervision and promote new knowledge on both origins and consequences of such supervisory behavior.

Authors/Editors

- Uni.-Prof. Dr. Frank Heiko Walter

Citation Styles

Harvard Citation style: Walter, F., Lam, C., van der Vegt, G., Huang, X. and Miao, Q. (2015) Abusive supervision and subordinate performance: Instrumentality considerations in the emergence and consequences of abusive supervision, Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(4), pp. 1056-1072. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038513

APA Citation style: Walter, F., Lam, C., van der Vegt, G., Huang, X., & Miao, Q. (2015). Abusive supervision and subordinate performance: Instrumentality considerations in the emergence and consequences of abusive supervision. Journal of Applied Psychology. 100(4), 1056-1072. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038513