Employees' Behavioral Reactions to Supervisor Aggression: An Examination of Individual and Situational Factors

    Authors

    M. S. Mitchell;M. L. Ambrose

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    J. Appl. Psychol.

    Keywords

    abusive supervision; aggression; retaliation; displaced aggression; problem solving; ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR; ABUSIVE SUPERVISION; WORKPLACE; DEVIANCE; FRUSTRATION-AGGRESSION; DISPLACED AGGRESSION; SELF-REGULATION; GROUP NORMS; WORK GROUPS; COUNTERPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOR; ANTISOCIAL-BEHAVIOR; Psychology, Applied; Management

    Abstract

    This research examines employees' behavioral reactions to perceived supervisor aggression. The goal is to understand what makes employees react constructively or destructively to aggression. Three types of behavioral reactions are investigated: retaliation, coworker displaced aggression, and problem solving. We suggest employee reactions are influenced by individual and situational characteristics. We test these ideas by examining the moderating effects of 1 individual factor (locus of control) and 2 situational factors (fear of retaliation and behavioral modeling) on the relationships between perceived supervisor aggression and employee behaviors. The results of an experiment and 2 field studies provide support for the predictions and some unexpected findings. Implications for understanding reactions to perceived supervisor aggression are presented.

    Journal Title

    Journal of Applied Psychology

    Volume

    97

    Issue/Number

    6

    Publication Date

    1-1-2012

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    1148

    Last Page

    1170

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000311064700003

    ISSN

    0021-9010

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