Abusive Supervision and Supervisor Indifference Attribution: The Role of Subordinates’ Horizontal Collectivism Orientation

Despite the seemingly destructive nature of abusive supervision, abused subordinates make various attributions regarding abusive supervision. Previous research has focused on the negative and positive intentions of supervisors’ abusive behaviors (i.e. to cause injury or to improve performance). Drawing on attribution theory and the literature on abusive supervision and adopting a socio-emotional functional view of workplace relationships, we argue that victims of abusive supervision may attribute abusive supervision to supervisor indifference. Specifically, the current paper examined the mediating role of supervisor indifference attribution for the relationship between abusive supervision and subordinates’ job satisfaction and leader-member exchange (LMX). We also examined horizontal collectivism orientation as a boundary condition that influences the indirect effects of abusive supervision on subordinates’ outcomes through the attribution of supervisory indifference. Taking into account the discounting and augmentation principles of attribution theory, we hypothesized that subordinates who displayed horizontal collectivism orientation were more likely to attribute abusive supervision to supervisor indifference. Analyzing survey data collected from 178 South Korean employees, we found abusive supervision to be positively associated with the attribution of supervisory indifference, which in turn mediated the association between abusive supervision and subordinates’ job satisfaction and LMX. We further found that horizontal collectivism orientation strengthened these mediation effects.