Is Abusive Supervision the Last Straw? The Buffering Role of Construal Level in the Association of Abusive Supervision With Withdrawal

Abstract

Drawing on the theory of cognitive-affective processing system and that of construal level, we propose a moderated mediation model illustrating the relationship among abusive supervision, shame, construal level, and work withdrawal. We tested this model with a two-source time-lagged survey of 387 employees from 129 work teams in central and East China. Results revealed that abusive supervision had a positive association with the emotion of shame and supported the mediating role of shame linking abusive supervision to work withdrawal. Besides, our findings supported the buffering effect of construal level on the shame-work withdrawal relationship as well as the indirect relationship between abusive supervision and work withdrawal channeled through the emotion of shame.

Toxic work climates: An integrative review and development of a new construct and theoretical framework.

“…Besides bonding and relational mechanisms, our review extends prior teams research by demonstrating that toxic climates also influence outcomes via additional affective responses such as deonance, negative affect, and stress/strain mechanisms (Griffin, 2010; Houshmand et al, 2012; Liu et al, 2020; Sharifirad, 2016; Thornton & Rupp, 2016). Toxic climates directly affect employees’ emotions, frustrations, and psychosomatic conditions including shame, exhaustion, depression, and depletion (Bamberger & Bacharach, 2006; Baur et al, 2022; Farh & Chen, 2014; Gao & Liu, 2022; Herr et al, 2018; Houshmand et al, 2012; Kabat-Farr et al, 2018; Kessler et al, 2008; Razinskas & Hoegl, 2020). In turn, all of these affective reactions impact employees’ actions and work attitudes.…”