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Destructive forms of leadership: The effects of abusive supervision and incivility on employee health and safety

Jane Mullen (Department of Commerce, Mount Allison University, Sackville, Canada)
John Fiset (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Saint John’s, Canada)
Ann Rhéaume (Universite de Moncton, Moncton, Canada)

Leadership & Organization Development Journal

ISSN: 0143-7739

Article publication date: 24 August 2018

Issue publication date: 5 October 2018

3259

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between abusive supervision and employee health and safety outcomes in Study 1 and to examine the effect of inconsistent leadership, operationalized as the interaction between transformational leadership and supervisor incivility, on employee safety participation in Study 2.

Design/methodology/approach

In Study 1, survey data were gathered from n=145 healthcare workers. In Study 2, survey data were gathered from n=177 nurses.

Findings

A partially mediated structural model was estimated in Study 1 and the results show that the model provided a good fit to the data χ2 (1)=1.27, p=0.23. Abusive supervision predicted safety climate (β=−0.41, p<0.01) and psychological health (β=−0.27, p<0.01). Safety climate, in turn, predicted psychological health (β= 0.40, p<0.01) and safety participation (β= 0.37, p<0.01). Study 2: moderated regression analysis showed that inconsistent leadership significantly predicted employee safety participation, F(5,144)=4.46, p<0.01.

Originality/value

Theoretical and practical implications for creating psychologically healthy workplaces through interventions aimed at improving leader effectiveness are discussed.

Keywords

Citation

Mullen, J., Fiset, J. and Rhéaume, A. (2018), "Destructive forms of leadership: The effects of abusive supervision and incivility on employee health and safety", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 39 No. 8, pp. 946-961. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-06-2018-0203

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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