Antecedents of abusive supervision: An exploratory study

Previous research has primarily focused on the consequences of abusive supervision and the moderating effects on its relationship with employee outcomes. However, relatively few studies have examined its antecedents. For example, some research has shown that supervisors’ perceptions of fairness may contribute to abusive supervision. Although scholarly attention to antecedents has been increasing, further research is needed to consider how environmental characteristics may stimulate supervisors to engage in abusive behaviors. Drawing on ego depletion theory, we examined factors within interpersonal relationships that can either deplete or replenish supervisors’ resources across both work and non-work domains, specifically supervisors’ stress from family-work conflict and their own experiences with both positive and negative leadership behaviors. Using data collected from supervisors and their subordinates, we conducted group-level analyses and tested our hypotheses with partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling. Our findings indicate that supervisors who experienced positive leadership behaviors, such as servant leadership, from their own bosses were less likely to act abusively toward subordinates. Moreover, we found that supervisors’ agreeableness was negatively associated with abusive supervision.