Abusive supervision and citizenship behaviors: exploring boundary conditions

Abstract

PurposePrevious research indicates that employees reciprocate for abusive supervision by withholding discretionary organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the boundary conditions of the negative relationship between abusive supervision and OCBs, by investigating time and money (dyadic duration and pay satisfaction) as potential moderating variables to the abusive supervision‐OCBs relationship.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 357 bank employees in Kazakhstan was used to test hypotheses.FindingsResults indicate that the negative relationship between abusive supervision and OCBs is more pronounced when employees have been supervised by a particular manager for a longer period of time, as well as when employees are less satisfied with their level of compensation.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations include the use of cross‐sectional data and the possibility of common method bias.Practical implicationsSatisfaction with pay as a moderator may suggest additional costs associated with abusive supervision, as employees may demand higher salaries when working for abusive supervisors. Additionally, dyadic duration as a moderator may suggest that abusive supervisor behaviors over time lead individual employees to withhold more and more OCBs.Social implicationsOrganizational cultures can be adversely affected by reactions to abuse, and abusive supervision represents a growing social problem that may necessitate legislation to protect workers.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the literature by suggesting that employees appear more willing to withhold OCBs in longer‐term dyadic relationships, and employees' positive satisfaction with pay appears to lessen the negative relationship between abusive supervision and OCBs. Additionally, this study explores abusive supervision using a non‐western sample.

The mediating relationship of self-awareness on supervisor burnout and workgroup Civility & Psychological Safety: A multilevel path analysis

“…Carmeli et al (2014) found that leadership behavior affects psychological safety, one component of workgroup climate, which in turn affects creative problem-solving capacity. Abusive supervisor behavior, including dishonesty, intimidation, and threats, is associated with lower organizational citizenship behaviors in workgroups (Gregory, Osmonbekov, Gregory, Albritton, & Carr, 2013). Intimidating and avoiding behaviors, as occur when supervisors depersonalize and withdraw from relationships, are associated with lower employee engagement, decreased job satisfaction, and subordinate burnout (Leary et al, 2013).…”

Abusive Supervision and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Mediating Role of Networking Behavior

“…Indeed, the relationship between abusive supervision and OCB is well established and has been tested across multiple studies [13,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. Aryee et al [32] suggested that abusive supervision breeds a toxic relationship with the subordinates.…”

Compulsory Citizenship Behavior and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Role of Organizational Identification and Perceived Interactional Justice

“…A handful of empirical studies have suggested that OCB has constructive impacts on employees' individual performance and organizational effectiveness (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Paine, & Bachrach, 2000). Therefore, managers expect their subordinates to engage in more OCBs in the workplace (Gregory, Osmonbekov, & Gregory, 2009;Bolino, Turnley, Gilstrap, & Suazo, 2010). However, employees may feel pressured to perform OCBs because citizenship behaviors are often informally encouraged and rewarded (Bolino et al).…”