What have I done to deserve this? Effects of employee personality and emotion on abusive supervision

CA Henle, MA Gross�- Journal of Business Ethics, 2014 - Springer
CA Henle, MA Gross
Journal of Business Ethics, 2014Springer
Drawing on victim precipitation theory, we propose that certain employees are more likely to
perceive abusive supervision because of their personality traits. Specifically, we hypothesize
that subordinates' emotional stability, conscientiousness, and agreeableness will be
negatively related to perceived abuse from their supervisor and that negative emotions at
work will mediate these relationships. We surveyed 222 employees and found that
emotional stability and conscientiousness negatively predicted employees' self-reports of�…
Abstract
Drawing on victim precipitation theory, we propose that certain employees are more likely to perceive abusive supervision because of their personality traits. Specifically, we hypothesize that subordinates’ emotional stability, conscientiousness, and agreeableness will be negatively related to perceived abuse from their supervisor and that negative emotions at work will mediate these relationships. We surveyed 222 employees and found that emotional stability and conscientiousness negatively predicted employees’ self-reports of abusive supervision and that this relationship was mediated by negative emotions. Thus, employees lower in emotional stability or conscientiousness are more likely to experience negative emotions, which in turn is related to higher levels of abuse.
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