Reactions to abusive supervision: examining the roles of emotions and gender in the USA

Abstract

Abusive supervision leads to many detrimental outcomes, yet the role of gender and emotions has received little attention. We applied affective events theory to study emotions in a new context. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, we tested a conditional process model of the effects of abusive supervision on subordinate work and job withdrawal as mediated by negative emotions and moderated by gender. We found support for our proposed model. Specifically, abusive supervision increased work and job withdrawal via victims’ negative emotional reactions. When negative emotions are low, women are more likely to engage in work withdrawal; when negative emotions are high, men are more likely to do so. Additionally, men experiencing high negative emotions are likely to quit their job.

Keywords:

• abusive supervision
• affective events theory
• emotional reactions
• job withdrawal
• work withdrawal

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.