Third Parties' Reactions To The Abusive Supervision Of Coworkers

Keywords

Abusive supervision; Coworker exclusion; Coworker support; Exclusion beliefs; Supervisor-directed deviance

Abstract

This research examines 3rd parties' reactions to the abusive supervision of a coworker. Reactions were theorized to depend on 3rd parties' beliefs about the targeted coworker and, specifically, whether the target of abuse was considered deserving of mistreatment. We predicted that 3rd parties would experience anger when targets of abuse were considered undeserving of mistreatment; angered 3rd parties would then be motivated to harm the abusive supervisor and support the targeted coworker. Conversely, we predicted that 3rd parties would experience contentment when targets of abuse were considered deserving of mistreatment; contented 3rd parties would then be motivated to exclude the targeted coworker. Additionally, we predicted that 3rd parties' moral identity would moderate the effects of 3rd parties' experienced emotions on their behavioral reactions, such that a strong moral identity would strengthen ethical behavior (i.e., coworker support) and weaken harmful behavior (i.e., supervisor-directed deviance, coworker exclusion). Moderated mediation results supported the predictions. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Publication Date

7-1-2015

Publication Title

Journal of Applied Psychology

Volume

100

Issue

4

Number of Pages

1040-1055

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000002

Socpus ID

84937033943 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84937033943

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