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Expanding on the research of the antecedents of abusive supervision, this study aims to explore supervisor role overload as a supervisor-level predictor of abusive supervision. Based on transactional stress theory, the authors investigate role overload that is appraised as a challenge or a hindrance stressor by supervisors, leading to pleasant or unpleasant feelings, respectively. The authors propose that, based on their appraisal, these feelings of supervisors act as a mediating mechanism that can facilitate or inhibit their abusive behaviour at work. Additionally, the authors posit emotional intelligence (EI) as a key moderator in helping supervisors manage the negative feelings arising from perceiving role overload as a hindrance and preventing them from demonstrating abusive supervision.

To test the proposed moderated mediation model, the authors collected two-wave data from middle-level supervisors or managers from several organisations located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia (N = 990).

The results largely support the hypothesised relationships and show that depending on supervisor appraisal, role overload can generate pleasant or unpleasant feelings in supervisors and, consequently, impede or facilitate abusive supervision. They also shed light on the moderating effect of EI, in that supervisors scoring high on EI are better equipped to deal with unpleasant feelings arising from role overload and effectively manage their workplace behaviour, that is, to avoid abusive behaviours.

Role overload can have different impacts on employees: on the one hand, there is a potential for growth, which entails drive and enthusiasm; on the other hand, it could feel like an unsurmountable mountain for employees, leading to different forms of anxiety. Because what we feel is what we project onto others, supervisors experiencing unpleasant feelings cannot be the best leader they can be; even worse, they can become a source of negativity by displaying destructive behaviours such as abusive supervision. The corollary of something as minor as an interaction with a leader experiencing unpleasant feelings could have a ripple effect and lead to adverse outcomes for organisations and their employees. This study explores the different perceptions of role overload and the subsequent feelings coming from those perceptions as supervisor-level predictors of abusive supervision. While it is not possible to objectively put a different lens inside the minds of supervisors when they face stressors at work, to feel pleasant or unpleasant, they can be trained to manage their negative feelings and keep their behaviours in check. Particularly, training managers to be more emotionally intelligent can help them not only achieve growth by overcoming challenges at work but also acknowledge and adapt their feelings to keep their behaviours in the workplace positive. In practical terms, this research can provide organisations with the knowledge required to nip the problem of abusive supervision in the bud, as prevention is always better than cure.

Although work-related antecedents of abusive supervision are well-known, knowledge on the cross-domain antecedents of this destructive leadership behavior is scarce. Accordingly, this study aims to investigate off-the-job supervisors’ after-work experiences that may influence their work behavior. The authors explore how and when a supervisor’s poor recovery experiences lead to abusive supervisory behaviors through a negative start-of-workday mood for high vs low supervisor sleep quality.

The authors conducted a single-source, three-phase field study (N = 422) to test the proposed moderated mediation model for participants from a large telecommunications company located in Anhui province, People’s Republic of China.

Poor recovery experiences in the supervisor’s personal life can spill over to their work domain and provoke abusive supervisory behavior through the mediating effect of a negative start-of-workday mood. Moreover, a supervisor’s good night’s sleep (i.e. first-stage moderator) serves as a key mitigating factor to diminish the negative start-of-workday mood resulting from a lack of relaxation, mastery experiences and control experiences (except for the lack of psychological detachment from work) and lessens abusive supervision.

This study contributes to the literature examining off-the-job events to understand the antecedents of abusive supervision that are beyond organizations’ control but significantly influence workplace behaviors, showing that not all antecedents of abusive supervision exist in the workplace; some are transferred from the home domain through nonvisible moods. Finally, the inclusion of sleep quality as a first-stage moderator provides insights on preventing abusive supervision caused by nonwork-related events. This adds a unique dimension to the abusive supervision literature by highlighting factors in the home domain that can prevent negative spillovers to the work domain. The authors conclude with some theoretical and practical implications for researchers and practitioners.

Based on revenge theory and the three objectives of social interaction theory of aggression, the purpose of this paper is to develop a framework to answer why and when a subordinate’s own behaviour instigates abuse at the workplace. In particular, the authors argue that subordinate gossip behaviour instils in supervisors a thought of revenge towards that subordinate, which, in turn, leads to abusive supervision. Specifically, this hypothesised relationship is augmented when the supervisor feels close to the gossiper (i.e. psychological proximity).

The authors conducted two independent studies to test the moderated mediation model, which collectively investigate why and when subordinate gossip behaviour provokes abusive supervision in the workplace. A lagged study (i.e. Study 1: 422 supervisors and subordinates) in a large retail company and an experience sampling study (i.e. Study 2: 96 supervisors and subordinates with 480 daily surveys) in multiple organisations provide support for the moderated mediation model.

The two-study (i.e. a lagged study and an experience sampling study) findings support the integrated model, which has mainly focussed on instrumental consideration of abusive supervision that influences the supervisor–subordinate relationship.

The two-study investigation has important and meaningful implications for abusive supervision research because it determines that subordinate gossip behaviour is more threating to a supervisor when the subordinate and the supervisor are psychological close to each other than when they are not. That is because when they are close, the supervisor is not expecting gossip behaviour from the subordinate, thus giving rise to an abusive workplace.

This study aims to explore an interpersonal predictor of coworkers-directed knowledge hiding behavior – the leader–member exchange social comparison (LMXSC). This study integrates leader–member exchange literature with social comparison theory to hypothesize that an individual’s upward LMXSC is positively correlated with coworkers-directed knowledge hiding and that an individual’s feelings of envy are mediated by the relationship between upward LMXSC and coworkers-directed knowledge hiding behavior. Also, this study proposes two-way and three-way interaction patterns of goal interdependence, which can influence LMXSC–envy relationships.

Two independent studies are conducted to test the hypothesized relationships. In Study 1, the authors collected multi-wave data from a large public sector university in China (N = 1,131). The authors then replicated the Study 1 findings by collecting multi-source and multi-wave data from a telecom company based in China (n = 379).

The authors found support across both studies for the idea that upward LMXSC is a possible interpersonal predictor of coworkers-directed knowledge hiding behavior. More specifically, it was found that feelings of envy ensue from upward LMXSC, resulting in further coworkers-directed knowledge hiding behavior. Further, this study shows that the influence of upward LMXSC on knowledge hiding behavior via feelings of envy was weaker (stronger) when employees have high (low) cooperative goal interdependence with coworkers, respectively, and when employees have low (high) competitive goal interdependence with the coworkers, respectively.

This study extends current knowledge management literature by introducing LMXSC as an interpersonal predictor of coworkers-directed knowledge hiding behavior. This will help practitioners to curb such counterproductive behavior.

Drawing upon the theoretical underpinning of knowledge worker productivity, this study aims to examine the relationship between abusive supervision and knowledge management (KM) process (creation, application and sharing of knowledge) and its impact on the knowledge worker productivity in knowledge-intensive organizations.

Hypothesis were tested through PROCESS Macro in IBM SPSS v.26 on a sample of 204 employees working in banking sector of Pakistan. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test the model fitness through AMOS v. 26.

The results showed that the relationship between abusive supervision and KM process (creation, application and sharing of knowledge) is negative and highly significant, i.e. greater the abusive supervision in the banking sector, the lower is the engagement in KM processes. Furthermore, there is a positive and highly significant relationship between the KM process and knowledge worker productivity. Finally, the study indicates the negative impact of abusive supervision on the knowledge worker productivity through the mediating mechanism of knowledge management processes.

A key limitation is that the study is cross-sectional, and the findings may only be generalizable to developing countries context.

Previous studies have focused on supervisor–employee relationship but not in the context of knowledge worker productivity. This article fulfills this gap through understanding the impact of abusive supervision on the knowledge worker productivity in relation to KM processes (knowledge creation, sharing and application) by drawing upon the theoretical underpinning of knowledge worker productivity.

Although voice endorsement is essential for individuals, teams and organizational performance, leaders who consider followers' voice to be threatening are reluctant to implement followers' ideas. The authors, taking note of this phenomenon, investigate why leaders who feel a threat from followers' voice exhibit voice rejection at the workplace and when this detrimental tendency can be diminished. Thus, based on the self-defense tendency as per self-affirmation theory, the authors argue that those leaders who experience threat triggered by followers' voice, justify voice rejection through the self-defense tactics: message derogation and source derogation. In addition, the authors also propose that a leader's positive (negative) affect experienced before voice exposure may decrease (increase) self-defense and voice rejection.

To test the authors’ moderated mediation model, they conducted two independent vignette studies (N = 269; N = 208). The purpose of the first vignette study was to test the simple mediation (i.e. the direct and indirect effects), whereas the second study aimed to test the moderated mediation model.

In Study 1, the authors found that the leader's perceived threat to competence provoked by followers' voice was positively related to voice rejection, and the relationship was partially mediated by message derogation and source derogation. In line with this, in Study 2, the authors tested the moderated mediation model and replicated the findings of Study 1. They found that the effects of leader's perceived threat to competence on voice rejection through self-defense tactics are weaker (stronger) at the high (low) values of a leader's positive affect. In contrast, the effects of a leader's perceived threat to competence on voice rejection through self-defense tactics are stronger (weaker) at the high (low) values of a leader's negative affect.

This study suggests that leaders who experience a threat to competence instigated by employee voice are more likely to think that ideas proposed by employees are non-constructive and employees who suggest those ideas are not credible, and these appraisals have a direct influence on voice rejection. However, if leaders are in a good mood vs. bad mood, they will be less likely to think negatively about employees and their ideas even when they experience psychological threats. The findings highlight several avenues for future researchers to extend the literature on employee voice management and leadership coaching by providing theoretical and managerial implications.

Drawing on the socially embedded model of thriving and the idiosyncrasy credit model of leadership, this study aims to develop a moderated mediation model to investigate the roles that are thriving at work and leader competency play in the link between leader humility and creative service performance (CSP) of hospitality frontline service employees (FSEs).

To test the moderated mediation model, the authors applied a time-lagged research design and collected multi-source data from locally owned, star-rated hotels headquartered in the capital city of Pakistan. The authors collected the multi-source data at three different points in time from employees and their respective supervisors (N = 52 managers and their 312 immediate employees).

The results denote that leader humility positively impacts CSP, thriving at work mediates this impact and leader competency not only moderates the connection between leader humility and thriving at work but also magnifies the indirect association between leader humility and CSP via thriving at work.

The moderated mediation framework based on the socially embedded model of thriving and the idiosyncrasy credit model of leadership will benefit future researchers and practitioners while exploring the impact of leader humility (LH) on FSEs’ CSP in the hospitality context.

The fundamental contribution of this study is developing and testing a research model that concentrates on the effects of leader humility on FSEs’ CSP. Moreover, by receiving support on the mediating role of thriving, this research further sheds light on how subordinates under the leader with humility demonstrate high CSP. In addition, the moderating role of leader competency found in this study further highlights that leader effectiveness depends on the degree to which employees perceive their leader as competent.

Based on the theory of crossover, the purpose of this paper is to explore the limited but growing body of research on positive crossover, wherein the authors investigated the direct and indirect crossover of work passion between the dyadic setting of leader and followers. The authors hypothesized that the leader’s (follower’s) work passion influence follower’s (leader’s) work passion through direct crossover phenomena (i.e. crossover via empathy). In the study, the authors also examined the underlying indirect crossover mechanism of leader’s (follower’s) work passion via personal identification – the process by which individuals (supervisors and subordinates) realize cognitive overlap between the self and other over time in a relationship. In an attempt to fully understand the crossover of leader’s (follower’s) work passion, the authors scrutinized the pattern of leader–follower relationship quality, which has the capacity to moderate the direct and indirect crossover of work passion from leader to follower and vice versa.

The authors conducted two independent studies and collected a time-lagged data from the dyadic settings of a large trade multinational company (n=77 supervisor and 373 subordinates) and a large manufacturing multinational company (n=89 supervisor and 411 subordinates) situated in Anhui province of China to test the authors’ moderated mediation model of work passion.

As expected the authors found support for all the authors’ hypothesized relationships. Specifically, the results provide support for the notion of direct and indirect crossover of work passion within leader–follower dyads. Moreover, the authors’ findings also support the moderated mediation model of direct and indirect crossover of work passion.

Overall, this study provides a potential way to stimulate work passion in employees (leader and followers) from the perspective of their relationship quality with each other. Moreover, implications for theory, research and practice with prospective future research topics are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between perceived subordinate performance and abusive supervision. From the perspective of moral exclusion theory, the authors examine cooperative goal interdependence and competitive goal interdependence as key boundary conditions to hypothesize and demonstrate the direct negative relationship between low-performing subordinates and abusive supervision. Within the moral exclusion framework, supervisors may strategically abuse low performers when cooperative goal interdependence is high, or competitive goal interdependence is low. Moreover, this study explores the impact of abusive supervision on subordinate’s objective performance.

This research employs two independent studies to examine the antecedents and consequences of abusive supervision based on respondents from a Fortune 500 company located in Anhui province of People’s Republic of China (PRC). Study 1 uses a time lagged, single source survey while Study 2 employs multi-source, multi-wave data. The results support the integrated model.

Across the two studies, the results showed that the direct negative relationship between perceived subordinate performance and abusive supervision was found to be stronger when cooperative goal interdependence was high and when competitive goal interdependence was low. Study 2 also revealed the negative impact of abusive supervision on subordinate’s objective performance and that the conditional indirect effect of subordinate’s perceived performance on objective performance via abusive supervision was contingent on the extent of cooperative and competitive goal interdependence.

The results clearly demonstrate that supervisors are likely to turn to abusive supervision in response to poor performing subordinates but that the tendency to use abuse as an instrumental strategy for improving subordinate performance is dependent on the nature of goal interdependence between the supervisor and subordinates’ goals. The research also shows that although supervisors may turn to abusive supervision under certain goal interdependence conditions, it is not an effective strategy for actually improving subordinate objective performance. In fact, it has the opposite effect.

By integrating affective events theory and insights from the displaced aggression literature, the purpose of this paper is to highlight that state hostility can serve as an explanation for how perceived undermining by co-workers leads to antagonistic consequences. Distress tolerance and organizational identification are theorized to moderate the hypothesized relationships that are investigated in this study.

PROCESS macro developed by Hayes (2013) was used to test all the hypotheses by using time-lagged, multi-source data collected from 218 Chinese employees associated with the service industry.

The paper finds that state hostility seems to trigger unethical behavior on the part of employees resulting in service sabotage. It is concluded that perceptions of undermining are positively linked to employees’ hostility, which in turn drive service sabotage behavior. Furthermore, employee distress tolerance weakens the effects of perceived undermining on employees’ state hostility, while organizational identification alleviates the effect of employees’ hostility on service sabotage behavior.

This study not only highlights the outcomes of perceived coworker undermining, the mechanism through which it occurs, and the moderating effects of given factors, but also provides insights to the organizations for managing service sector employees so that they can more effectively interact with customers. The findings suggest that employees with high organizational identification are less involved in service sabotage, thus, such measures are necessary to take which help employers to enhance employees’ organizational identification. The authors also suggest managers to clearly communicate the adverse consequences which employees could have to face if they exhibit unethical behavior.

This study addresses the question: when and how perceived coworker undermining affects customers’ services. To date, most of the existing literature considered customers’ negative event and customers’ mistreatment as an antecedent of employees’ service sabotage. However, this study concluded that these are not the only reasons for employees’ service sabotage, employees’ interpersonal mistreatment which occurred beyond customers’ interaction also causes service sabotage.