Abusive supervision, co-worker abuse and work outcomes: procedural justice as a mediator
| Published date | 02 December 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-09-2018-0060 |
| Date | 02 December 2019 |
| Pages | 325-341 |
| Author | Shalini Ramdeo,Riann Singh |
| Subject Matter | Hr & organizational behaviour |
Abusive supervision, co-worker
abuse and work outcomes:
procedural justice as a mediator
Shalini Ramdeo and Riann Singh
Department of Management Studies,
University of the West Indies, Saint Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
Abstract
Purpose –Based on the social exchange theory and the reactance theory, the purpose of this paper is to
investigate the effects of workplace abuse from two sources. The study explores the linkage between abusive
supervision and co-worker abuse on the targeted employee’s organizational commitment, organizational
citizenship behavior and intention to quit as mediated by procedural justice. Furthermore, this study extends
understanding workplace abuse consequences by investigating its effects on organizational citizenship
behavior directed to individuals and organizational citizenship behavior directed to the organization.
Design/methodology/approach –To test the proposed hypotheses, a cross-sectional research design was
used. The sample comprised 500 employees working in various private and public sector organizations in the
Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Using a split-sample approach, mediation analyses were performed on the
test and validation samples.
Findings –The research results showed that procedural justice mediated the relationship between abusive
supervision and affective and normative commitment, organizational citizenship behavior directed to
individuals and intention to quit. Procedural justice was found to mediatethe relationship between co-worker
abuse and affective and normative commitment, and intention to quit.
Originality/value –This study extends previous academic studies on workplace abuse by comparing the
effects of abusive supervision and the lesser researched source of co-worker abuse on the targeted employee’s
organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior and intention to quit. It also reports on the
effects of each source on an employee’s organizational citizenship behavior directed to individuals and
organizational citizenship behavior directed to the organization, as there is limited empirical research within
the workplace abuse literate on these two dimensions.
Keywords Abusive supervision, Procedural justice, Organizational commitment,
Organizational citizenship behaviour, Co-worker abuse, Turnover intent
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Workplace abuse is an increasing problem plaguing today’s organizations, affecting up to
16 percent of employees (Harrington et al., 2013). Workplace abuse represents one form of
workplace mistreatment comprising a multitude of behaviors such as violence, aggression,
bullying and incivility (Nielsen and Einarsen, 2018). Over the past two decades, there has
been an increase in scholarship examining deviant, counter-productive work attitudes and
behaviors, coined as “bad behaviors”in organizations (Griffin and Lopez, 2005).
While the extant literature focuses on organizational leaders’behaviors that benefit the
organization, destructive leadership research is gaining momentum among scholars (Aryee
et al., 2007). Abusive supervision is one such source which refers to the “subordinates’
perceptions of the extent to which supervisors engage in the sustained display of hostile
verbal and nonverbal behaviors, excluding physical contact”(Tepper, 2000, p. 178). These
non-physical subordinate-targeted behaviors include ridicule, uncontrolled outbursts, the
silent treatment and blaming others to save oneself from embarrassment (Tepper, 2000).
Tepper et al. (2017) estimate that approximately 10 percent of employees experience
supervisory abuse. Co-worker abuse is another source which refers to the target’s
perceptions of a sustained display of hostile verbal and non-verbal behaviors directed
toward him or her by a co-worker excluding physical contact, usually more than six months
Evidence-based HRM: a Global
Forum for Empirical Scholarship
Vol. 7 No. 3, 2019
pp. 325-341
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2049-3983
DOI 10.1108/EBHRM-09-2018-0060
Received 30 September 2018
Revised 13 March 2019
11 June 2019
Accepted 8 July 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2049-3983.htm
325
Procedural
justice as a
mediator
(Harris et al., 2010; Wheeler et al., 2013). This definition characterizes a co-worker’s abusive
behaviors as a subjective assessment, excluding physical contact. The unique property of
abusive co-workers is the reciprocal exchange, as both the abuser and the target are at the
same level of power and organizational status (Harris et al., 2010). Abusive supervision has
several adverse effects on the employee’s work attitudes and behaviors, where
organizational justice perceptions were found to mediate most of the effects (Aryee et al.,
2007; Tepper, 2000; Zellars et al., 2002). Therefore, the contradiction between the general
employment expectation and the employees’expectations of fair procedures (i.e. procedural
justice perceptions) to address workplace abuse by the organization and its immediate
representatives (i.e. organizational authorities) shapes the beliefs of being victimized.
Although abusive co-worker behaviors are similar to an abusive supervisor, there may be
distinctions in the target’s reactions that warrant investigation.
This study makes two important contributions to the extant literature. First, we examine
perceived employee abuse from two different sources: supervisors and co-workers.
Empirical evidence suggest that leading sources of abuse in organizations are supervisors
(Tepper et al., 2017). Indeed, the positional power of those in supervisory positions provide
an avenue and authority to direct abusive behaviors toward subordinates and is often
referred to as a “tough”management style (Crawshaw, 2010; Tehrani, 2012). While empirical
evidence on the antecedents and consequences of supervisory abuse has been explored,
relatively little is known about abusive co-workers (Harris et al., 2010). We further the goal
of understanding abuse from different sources by comparing the consequences of abusive
supervisor and abusive co-worker behaviors.
Second, this study builds on previous investigations on the consequences of supervisory
abuse by pursuing a broader research agenda (Tepper, 2000; Tepper et al., 2017). Specifically,
we examine the mediating effect of procedural justice on the relationship between these two
different sources of abuse and two dimensions of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB).
Empirical evidence suggest that abusive supervision has detrimental consequences on job
satisfaction, organizational commitment, intentions to leave, performance and deviance
(Tepper, 2007). Despite the growing body of scholarship on workplace abuse, relatively little
research attention has been directed to its effect on employees’OCB. The conceptualization
proposedby Williams and Anderson (1991) includetwo broad categories, thatis, OCB directed
to the organization (OCBO), and OCB directed to individuals (OCBI). Workers may react
differently toward the overall organization and the employees of the organization, with calls
being made for thedimensions to be treated as distinct in exploringtheir antecedents (Liu and
Wang, 2013). When employees perceive a distortion in the reciprocal norm that governs the
workplace,they retaliate by adjusting theirattitudes and behaviors (Parzefalland Salin, 2010).
Thus, we draw on the reactance theory (Brehm, 1966) and the social exchange theory
(Homans, 1958) to explain the process by which procedural justice perceptions shape
employee reactionsto workplace abuse. From a theoretical perspective, this study intends to
demonstrate the relevance of the social exchange theory to the domain of abusive co-workers
and further expandour understanding of procedural justice perceptions. Figure 1 depicts the
theoretical model tested in this study.
Theory and hypotheses
Abusive supervision
As discussed earlier, one of the main sources of abuse in organizations is downward
hostility. Tepper (2000) noted that the effects on the target of abuse vary depending on the
perpetrator, where the abuse is psychological. Therefore, an employee could view the
supervisor’s behavior as abusive in one context and as non-abusive in another context,
hence, the subjectivity in classifying behaviors. The consequences of supervisory abuse are
far reaching as the lack of status, power or a formal process to retaliate intensifies the
326
EBHRM
7,3
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