Abusive supervision and subordinates' organizational citizenship behavior

Area of Science:

• Organizational Psychology
• Management Studies

Background:

• Abusive supervision negatively impacts employee performance and workplace dynamics.
• Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) is crucial for team success but its relationship with abusive supervision is complex.
• Understanding how subordinates define OCB influences its relationship with supervisory behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the link between abusive supervision and subordinate OCB.
• To examine the moderating role of OCB role definitions (in-role vs. extra-role) in this relationship.
• To explore the mediating effect of procedural justice on the abusive supervision-OCB link.

Main Methods:

• Survey research design.
• Sample of 373 Air National Guard members and their military supervisors.
• Statistical analysis including mediation and moderation.

Main Results:

• The negative relationship between abusive supervision and OCB was stronger when subordinates viewed OCB as extra-role behavior.
• This effect was fully mediated by the interaction of procedural justice and OCB role definitions.
• Procedural justice plays a key role in how abusive supervision affects OCB based on its definition.

Conclusions:

• Subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision significantly influence their OCB, especially when OCB is defined as extra-role.
• Procedural justice and the definition of OCB are critical factors in understanding this dynamic.
• Findings offer insights for leadership training and organizational policy to mitigate negative supervisory impacts.