Reactions from the Dark Side: How Does the Dark Tetrad Affect Responses to Daily Abusive Supervision Today and Tomorrow?

Abstract

Abusive supervision is a widely-studied phenomenon experienced by a multitude of workers across organizations and occupations. It has typically been conceptualized as a chronic phenomenon with negative outcomes. However, preliminary evidence indicates that conceptualizing abusive supervision as constant may not be accurate, and that its outcomes may vary temporally. This study uses a within-person approach to capture the dynamic nature of abusive supervision and subordinate responses more fully. We surveyed 102 full-time employees from the U.S. who responded to 932 daily surveys assessing personality, workplace behaviors, and justice perceptions. Daily abuse led to lower perceptions of justice and increased retaliation on the same day, but not the following days. Rather, employees who engaged in workplace deviance more often reported more abusive supervision, potentially as a justification for their behavior. Further, justice perceptions predicted increased reports of abuse, indicating that this may be a circular relationship instead of a unidirectional one. Finally, narcissism exacerbated the relationships explored. These results can be used to implement interventions directed at both supervisor behavior and subordinate perceptions and behaviors.

Keywords:

• ESM/diary study
• workplace deviance
• individual differences
• justice
• leadership

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/8fvjs/?view_only=39145960961c4d6bab3c676b5999ec2e

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Rushika De Bruin

Rushika De Bruin is a HR Analytics Business Partner at Carilion Clinic. She got her PhD from Northern Illinois University and researches leadership, workplace deviance, meeting behaviors, and the impact of personality on workplace interactions.

Lisa M. Finkelstein

Lisa M. Finkelstein is a professor and program director of the Social-I/O Psychology area of the Department of Psychology at Northern Illinois University. She researches aging at work, stigma at work, mentoring relationships, workplace humor, and perceptions of high potential.