Beyond Mistreatment at the Relationship Level: Abusive Supervision and Illegitimate Tasks

Abstract

According to the concept of abusive supervision, abusive supervisors display hostility towards their employees by humiliating and ridiculing them, giving them the silent treatment, and breaking promises. In this study, we argue that abusive supervision may not be limited to mistreatment at the relationship level and that the abuse is likely to extend to employees' work tasks. Drawing upon the notion that supervisors play a key role in assigning work tasks to employees, we propose that abusive supervisors may display disrespect and devaluation towards their employees through assigning illegitimate (i.e., unnecessary and unreasonable) tasks. Survey data were obtained from 268 healthcare and social services workers. The results showed that abusive supervision was strongly and positively related to illegitimate tasks. Moreover, we found that the relationship between abusive supervision and unreasonable tasks was stronger for nonsupervisory employees at the lowest hierarchical level than for supervisory employees at higher hierarchical levels. The findings indicate that abusive supervision may go beyond relatively overt forms of hostility at the relationship level. Task-level stressors may be an important additional source of stress for employees with abusive supervisors that should be considered to fully understand the devastating effects of abusive supervision on employee functioning and well-being.

When Is the Negative Effect of Abusive Supervision on Task Performance Mitigated? An Empirical Study of Public Service Officers in Korea

“…Nevertheless, the focus of most leadership studies has remained on effective and exemplary behavior, and negative leader behaviors need more attention in academia [11,12]. Abusive supervision has been reported to have a negative effect on the task performance of subordinates [13][14][15][16]. However, the relationship between abusive supervision and task performance is still being explored.…”

Psychometric Properties of the Bern Illegitimate Tasks Scale – Spanish Version

“…Moreover, illegitimate tasks have been studied in HCPs. Reports from Sweden ( Anskär et al, 2019 ), Norway ( Thun et al, 2018 ) and Germany ( Stein et al, 2020 ) show that HCPs are exposed to high levels of illegitimate tasks. However, to our knowledge, investigations involving illegitimate tasks in nursing personnel have not taken place in any Latin American country.…”

“…In addition, SOS theory not only describes threats to selfesteem but also assesses boosts to self-esteem (Semmer et al, 2007;Pfister et al, 2020b), which imply success and failure, meaning that workers who achieve goals or make progress toward goals are less able to develop SIN (Semmer et al, 2007(Semmer et al, , 2019. Similar to SIN, SAD can be lowered by positive affect and satisfaction (Semmer et al, 2019(Semmer et al, , 2020Pfister et al, 2020a,b;Stein et al, 2020). Therefore, these two factors are the principal states of SOS theory.…”

User Experience Sensor for Man–Machine Interaction Modeled as an Analogy to the Tower of Hanoi

“… Relieving highly qualified employees from time-consuming activities (such as teaching beginners) [ 17 ] (see part 4, chapter 13). Causing an employee not to feel watched/supervised by another person, which is a considerable discomfort for some people [ 18 ]. The system allows employees to make decisions independently within certain limits.…”

“…Causing an employee not to feel watched/supervised by another person, which is a considerable discomfort for some people [ 18 ].…”