Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Is abusive supervision an absolute devil? Literature review and research agenda

  • Reviews
  • Published:
Asia Pacific Journal of Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Abusive supervision has received increasing attention in the field. However, few studies have qualitatively reviewed its latest developments. The current paper reviews 48 studies on abusive supervision using content analysis. We identify six emerging trends of abusive supervision, including inconsistency of abusive behaviors, comparison between perceived and objective behaviors, reciprocity, team-level climate, coworker effects, and comparisons between theoretical perspectives. Based on a review of those six trends and some emerging findings, we identify and validate the possible positive effects of abusive supervision from an integrated analysis. We also determine the moderating role that Asian culture plays in differentiating the negative and positive effects of abusive supervision. Specifically, we identify the differences between Asian and Western cultures, and then explore the moral mechanisms (i.e., violation of moral standards, conflict of moral principles) through which abusive supervision may exert positive effects in the Asian cultural context. Finally, we clarify our theoretical implications and provide suggestions for future research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Note: The papers reviewed herein are marked with “*”.

  • Archer, D. 1999. Exploring “bullying” culture in the paramilitary organization. International Journal of Manpower, 20: 94–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ashkanasy, N. M. 2002. Leadership in the Asian century: Lessons from GLOBE. International Journal of Organizational Behavior, 5: 150–163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bacharach, S. B. 1989. Organization theories: Some criteria for evaluation. Academy of Management Review, 14(4): 496–515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Barnes, C. M., Lucianetti, L., Bhave, D. P., & Christian, M. S. 2015. You wouldn’t like me when I’m sleepy: Leaders’ sleep, daily abusive supervision, and work unit engagement. Academy of Management Journal, 58(5): 1419–1437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baron, R. A., Neuman, J. H., & Geddes 1999. Social and personal determinants of workplace aggression: Evidence for the impact of perceived injustice and the type A behavior pattern. Aggressive Behavior, 25: 281–296.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Bies, R. J., Tripp, T. M., & Shapiro, D. L. 2016. Abusive leaders or master motivators? “Abusive” is in the eye of the beholder. In N. M. Ashkanasy, R. J. Bennett, & M. J. Martinko (Eds.). Understanding the high-performance workplace: The line between motivation and abuse: 252–276. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolino, M. C., & Grant, A. M. 2016. The bright side of being pro-social at work, and the dark side, too: A review and agenda for research on other-oriented motives, behavior, and impact in organizations. Academy of Management Annals, 10(1): 599–670.

  • Bolino, M. C., & Klotz, A. C. 2015. The paradox of the unethical organizational citizen: The link between organizational citizenship behavior and unethical behavior at work. Current Opinion in Psychology, 6: 45–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolino, M. C., Klotz, A. C., Turnley, W. H., & Harvey, J. 2013. Exploring the dark side of organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(4): 542–559.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Brees, J., Martinko, M., & Harvey, P. 2016. Abusive supervision: Subordinate personality or supervisor behavior?. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 31(2): 405–419.

  • Byron, K., Khazanchi, S., & Nazarian, D. 2010. The relationship between stressors and creativity: A meta-analysis examining competing theoretical models. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95: 201–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Chan, M. E., & McAllister, D. J. 2014. Abusive supervision through the lens of employee state paranoia. Academy of Management Review, 39(1): 44–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheong, M., Spain, S. M., Yammarino, F. J., & Yun, S. 2016. Two faces of empowering leadership: Enabling and burdening. Leadership Quarterly, 27(4): 602–616.

  • *Courtright, S., Gardner, R., Smith, T., Mccormick, B., & Colbert, A. 2016. My family made me do it: A cross-domain, self-regulatory perspective on antecedents to abusive supervision. Academy of Management Journal, 59(5): 1630–1652.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, M. S. 1971. That’s interesting! Towards a phenomenology of sociology and a sociology of phenomenology. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 1: 309–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duriau, V. J., Reger, R. K., & Pfarrer, M. D. 2007. A content analysis of the content analysis literature in organization studies: Research themes, data sources, and methodological refinements. Organizational Research Methods, 10(1): 5–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Eissa, G., & Lester, S. W. 2016. Supervisor role overload and frustration as antecedents of abusive supervision: The moderating role of supervisor personality. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(3): 307–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Farh, C. I. C., & Chen, Z. 2014. Beyond the individual victim: Multilevel consequences of abusive supervision in teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99(6): 1074–1095.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferris, G. R., Zinko, R., Brouer, R. L., Buckley, M. R., & Harvey, M. G. 2007. Strategic bullying as a supplementary, balanced perspective on destructive leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 18: 195–206.

  • Fineman, S. 2006. On being positive: Concerns and counterpoints. Academy of Management Review, 31: 270–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Frieder, R. E., Hochwarter, W. A., & DeOrtentiis, P. S. 2015. Attenuating the negative effects of abusive supervision: The role of proactive voice behavior and resource management ability. Leadership Quarterly, 26(5): 821–837.

  • Fukuyama, F. 1995. Trust: The social virtues and the creation of prosperity. New York: Free Press.

  • Grant, A. M., & Schwartz, B. 2011. Too much of a good thing: The challenge and opportunity of the inverted U. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(1): 61–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Greenbaum, R. L., Bardes, M., Mayer, D. M., & Priesemuth, M. 2009. Supervisors’ abuse of customers: The moderating role of moral obligation. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management, Chicago.

  • Griffin, R. W., & Lopez, Y. P. 2005. “Bad behavior” in organizations: A review and typology in future research. Journal of Management, 31(6): 988–1005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Hannah, S. T., Schaubroeck, J. M., Peng, A. C., Lord, R. G., Trevino, L. K., Kozlowski, S. W. J., Avolio, B. J., Dimotakis, N., & Doty, J. 2013. Joint influences of individual and work unit abusive supervision on ethical intentions and behaviors: A moderated mediation model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(4): 579–592.

  • *Harris, K. J., Harvey, P., Harris, R. B., & Cast, M. 2013. An investigation of abusive supervision, vicarious abusive supervision, and their joint impacts. Journal of Social Psychology, 153(1): 38–50.

  • *Harvey, P., Harris, K. J., Gillis, W. E., & Martinko, M. J. 2014. Abusive supervision and the entitled employee. Leadership Quarterly, 25(2): 204–217.

  • Hershcovis, M. S. 2011. Incivility, social undermining, bullying…oh my!: A call to reconcile constructs within workplace aggression research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32(3): 499–519.

  • Hofstede, G. 2001. Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations​, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

  • *Johnson, R. E., Venus, M., Lanaj, K., Mao, C., & Chang, C. H. 2012. Leader identity as an antecedent of the frequency and consistency of transformational, consideration, and abusive leadership behaviors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(6): 1262–1272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Kiewitz, C., Restubog, S. L. D., Shoss, M. K., Garcia, P. R. J. M., & Tang, R. L. 2016. Suffering in silence: Investigating the role of fear in the relationship between abusive supervision and defensive silence. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(5): 731–742.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Kim, S. L., Kim, M., & Yun, S. 2015. Knowledge sharing, abusive supervision, and support: A social exchange perspective. Group & Organization Management, 40(5): 599–624.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Kim, S. L., Lee, S., & Yun, S. 2016. Abusive supervision, knowledge sharing, and individual factors: A conservation-of-resources perspective. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 31(6): 1106–1120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Klaussner, S. 2014. Engulfed in the abyss: The emergence of abusive supervision as an escalating process of supervisor-subordinate interaction. Human Relations, 67(3): 311–332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klotz, A. C., & Bolino, M. C. 2012. Citizenship and counterproductive work behavior: A moral licensing view. Academy of Management Review, 38(2): 292–306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Lee, S., Yun, S., & Srivastava, A. 2013. Evidence for a curvilinear relationship between abusive supervision and creativity in South Korea. Leadership Quarterly, 24(5): 724–731.

  • *Li, Y., Ashkanasy, N. M., & Mehmood, K. 2017. The experience of anger and sadness in response to hurtful behavior: Effects of gender-pairing and national culture. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 34(2): 423–441.

  • *Lian, H., Ferris, D. L., & Brown, D. J. 2012. Does power distance exacerbate or mitigate the effects of abusive supervision? It depends on the outcome. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(1): 107–113.

  • *Lian, H., Brown, D. J., Ferris, D. L., Liang, L. H., Keeping, L. M., & Morrison, R. 2014a. Abusive supervision and retaliation: A self-control framework. Academy of Management Journal, 57(1): 116–139.

  • *Lian, H., Ferris, D. L., Morrison, R., & Brown, D. J. 2014b. Blame it on the supervisor or the subordinate? Reciprocal relations between abusive supervision and organizational deviance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99(4): 651–664.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Lin, S. H. J., Ma, J., & Johnson, R. E. 2016. When ethical leader behavior breaks bad: How ethical leader behavior can turn abusive via ego depletion and moral licensing. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(6): 815–830.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma, H., Karri, R., & Chittipeddi, K. 2004. The paradox of managerial tyranny. Business Horizons, 47(4): 33–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Mackey, J. D., Frieder, R. E., Brees, J. R., & Martinko, M. J. 2017. Abusive supervision: A meta-analysis and empirical review. Journal of Management, 43(6): 1940–1965.

  • Marcinko, R. 1997. Leadership secrets of the rogue warrior: A commando’s guide to success. New York: Pocket Books.

  • Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. 1991. Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98(2): 224–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Martinko, M. J., Harvey, P., Sikora, D., & Douglas, S. C. 2011. Perceptions of abusive supervision: The role of subordinates’ attribution styles. Leadership Quarterly, 22(4): 751–764.

  • *Martinko, M. J., Harvey, P., Brees, J. R., & Mackey, J. 2013. A review of abusive supervision research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(S1): S120–S137.

  • *Mawritz, M., Greenbaum, R., Butts, M. M., & Graham, K. A. 2017. I just can’t control myself: A self-regulation perspective on the abuse of deviant employees. Academy of Management Journal, 60(4): 1482–1503.

  • Mikula, G., & Wenzel, M. 2000. Justice and social conflict. International Journal of Psychology, 35(2): 126–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Mitchell, M. S., & Ambrose, M. L. 2012. Employees’ behavioral reactions to supervisor aggression: An examination of individual and situational factors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(6): 1148–1170.

  • *Mitchell, M. S., Vogel, R. M., & Folger, R. 2015. Third parties’ reactions to the abusive supervision of coworkers. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(4): 1040–1055.

  • Mitchell, T. R., & James, L. R. 2001. Building better theory: Time and the specification of when things happen. Academy of Management Review, 26(4): 530–547.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Ogunfowora, B. 2013. When the abuse is unevenly distributed: The effects of abusive supervision variability on work attitudes and behaviors. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(8): 1105–1123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Oh, J. K., & Farh, C. L. 2017. An emotional process theory of how subordinates appraise, experience, and respond to abusive supervision over time. Academy of Management Review, 42(2): 207–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Opotow, S., & Weiss, L. 2000. Denial and the process of moral exclusion in environmental conflict. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3): 475–490.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Ouyang, K., Lam, W., & Wang, W. 2015. Roles of gender and identification on abusive supervision and proactive behavior. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 32(3): 1–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Peng, A. C., Schaubroeck, J. M., & Li, Y. 2014. Social exchange implications of own and coworkers’ experiences of supervisory abuse. Academy of Management Journal, 57(5): 1385–1405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pierce, J. R., & Aguinis, H. 2013. The too-much-of-a-good-thing effect in management. Journal of Management, 39(2): 313–338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Priesemuth, M. 2013. Stand up and speak up: Employees’ pro-social reactions to observed abusive supervision. Business and Society, 52(4): 649–665.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Schaubroeck, J. M., Peng, A. C., & Hannah, S. T. 2016. The role of peer respect in linking abusive supervision to follower outcomes: Dual moderation of group potency. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(2): 267–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Shaffer, J. A., Courtright, S. H., Colbert, A., & Darnold, T. C. 2011. Perpetuating abusive supervision: Third-party reactions to abusive supervision. Paper presented at the 26th annual conference program, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), Chicago.

  • Shao, R., Rupp, D. E., Skarlicki, D. P., & Jones, K. S. 2013. Employee justice across cultures: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Management, 39(1): 263–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sherif, M. 1936. The psychology of social norms. Oxford: Harper.

  • *Simon, L. S., Hurst, C., Kelley, K., & Judge, T. A. 2015. Understanding cycles of abuse: A multimotive approach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(6): 1798–1810.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tepper, B. J. 2000. Consequences of abusive supervision. Academy of Management Journal, 43(2): 178–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Tepper, B. J. 2007. Abusive supervision in work organizations: Review, synthesis, and research agenda. Journal of Management, 33(3): 261–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Tepper, B. J., Duffy, M. K., & Shaw, J. D. 2001. Personality moderators of the relationship between abusive supervision and subordinates’ resistance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(5): 974–983.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Tepper, B. J., Moss, S. E., & Duffy, M. K. 2011. Predictors of abusive supervision: Supervisor perceptions of deep-level dissimilarity, relationship conflict, and subordinate performance. Academy of Management Journal, 54(2): 279–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Tepper, B. J., Simon, L., & Park, H. M. 2017. Abusive supervision. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 4: 123–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Thau, S., & Mitchell, M. S. 2010. Self-gain or self-regulation impairment? Tests of competing explanations of the supervisor abuse and employee deviance relationship through perceptions of distributive justice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(6): 1009–1031.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trevino, L. K. 1992. The social effects of punishment in organizations: A justice perspective. Academy of Management Review, 17(4): 647–676.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Vogel, R. M., & Mitchell, M. S. 2015. The motivational effects of diminished self-esteem for employees who experience abusive supervision. Journal of Management, 43: 2218–2251.

  • *Vogel, R. M., Mitchell, M. S., Tepper, B. J., Restubog, S. L. D., Hu, C., Hua, W., Huang, J.-C. 2015. A cross-cultural examination of subordinates’ perceptions of and reactions to abusive supervision. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(5): 720–745.

  • *Walter, F., Lam, C. K., Van der Vegt, G. S., Huang, X., & Miao, Q. 2015. Abusive supervision and subordinate performance: Instrumentality considerations in the emergence and consequences of abusive supervision. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(4): 1056–1072.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Yagil, D. 2006. The relationship of abusive and supportive workplace supervision to employee burnout and upward influence tactics. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 6: 49–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Yam, K. C., Fehr, R., Keng-Highberger, F. T., Klotz, A. C., & Reynolds, S. J. 2016. Out of control: A self-control perspective on the link between surface acting and abusive supervision. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(2): 292–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yoon, S. J., & Chae, Y. J. 2012. Management of paradox: A comparative study of managerial practices in Korean and Japanese firms. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23: 3501–3521.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Zhang, Y., & Bednall, T. C. 2016. Antecedents of abusive supervision: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Business Ethics, 139(3): 455–471.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Zhang, Y., & Liao, Z. 2015. Consequences of abusive supervision: A meta-analytic review. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 32(4): 959–987.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The paper is supported by The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (no. 71425003) of China.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China

    Jialiang Zhang & Jun Liu

Authors
  1. Jialiang Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jun Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jun Liu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, J., Liu, J. Is abusive supervision an absolute devil? Literature review and research agenda. Asia Pac J Manag 35, 719–744 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-017-9551-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-017-9551-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation