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How Abusive Supervision Affects Employees’ Unethical Behaviors: A Moderated Mediation Examination of Turnover Intentions and Caring Climate

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  • Shubo Liu

    (Business School, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Qianlin ZHU

    (School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Feng Wei

    (School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China)

Abstract

Drawing on psychological contract theory, this research contributes to the unethical behavior literature by exploring employees’ turnover intentions as a mediator of the relationship between abusive supervision and employees’ unethical behavior and the moderating role of the caring climate in the relationship between turnover intentions and unethical behavior. The results from a sample of 679 reveal that turnover intentions mediate relationship between abusive supervision and subordinates’ unethical behavior, and caring climate moderates the positive relationship between turnover intentions and subordinates’ unethical behavior. We also find that the indirect effect is moderated by the caring climate. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Shubo Liu & Qianlin ZHU & Feng Wei, 2019. "How Abusive Supervision Affects Employees’ Unethical Behaviors: A Moderated Mediation Examination of Turnover Intentions and Caring Climate," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-14, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:21:p:4187-:d:281482
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Deqiang Deng & Chenchen Ye & Fan Wu & Yijing Guo & Hao Li & Changsheng Wang, 2023. "Effect of organizational ethical self-interest climate on unethical accounting behaviour with two different motivations in China: the moderating effect of Confucian ShiZhong Thinking," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Usman Ghani & Timothy Teo & Yan Li & Muhammad Usman & Zia Ul Islam & Habib Gul & Rana Muhammad Naeem & Humera Bahadar & Jing Yuan & Xuesong Zhai, 2020. "Tit for Tat: Abusive Supervision and Knowledge Hiding-The Role of Psychological Contract Breach and Psychological Ownership," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-16, February.
    3. Zhu Yao & Jinlian Luo & Na Fu & Xianchun Zhang & Qunchao Wan, 2022. "Rational Counterattack: The Impact of Workplace Bullying on Unethical Pro-organizational and Pro-family Behaviors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(3), pages 661-682, December.
    4. Qiangzhen Jian & Xiuting Wang & Hisham Mohammad Al-Smadi & Aamer Waheed & Alina Badulescu & Sarminah Samad, 2022. "Proposing a Robust Model to Reduce Employees’ Turnover Intentions in an Ethical Leadership Framework: Empirical Evidence from the Healthcare Sector," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-20, July.
    5. Heetae Park & Wonseok Choi & Seung-Wan Kang, 2020. "When Is the Negative Effect of Abusive Supervision on Task Performance Mitigated? An Empirical Study of Public Service Officers in Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-10, June.

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