Abusive supervision, psychosomatic symptoms, and deviance: Can job autonomy make a difference?

Area of Science:

• Organizational Psychology
• Occupational Health Psychology

Background:

• Abusive supervision is a growing concern in organizational research.
• Limited understanding exists regarding organizational factors mitigating its negative impact on employees.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the buffering role of job autonomy in the relationship between abusive supervision, psychosomatic symptoms, and production deviance.
• To test the Job Demands-Resources Model in the context of abusive supervision.

Main Methods:

• A moderated mediation analysis was conducted.
• Data were collected from 170 supervisor-subordinate dyads across 4 organizations.

Main Results:

• Job autonomy significantly buffered the negative effects of abusive supervision.
• Abusive supervision led to production deviance through psychosomatic symptoms only when job autonomy was low.

Conclusions:

• Job autonomy acts as a crucial buffer against the adverse effects of abusive supervision.
• Interventions aimed at increasing job autonomy may reduce employee stress and deviant behavior stemming from abusive supervision.