IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v164y2020i3d10.1007_s10551-018-4024-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

You Abuse and I Criticize: An Ego Depletion and Leader–Member Exchange Examination of Abusive Supervision and Destructive Voice

Author

Listed:
  • Jeremy D. Mackey

    (Auburn University)

  • Lei Huang

    (Auburn University)

  • Wei He

    (Nanjing University)

Abstract

We draw from ego depletion and leader–member exchange (i.e., LMX) theories to provide nuanced insight into why abusive supervision is indirectly associated with supervisor-directed destructive voice. A multi-wave, multi-source field study (n = 219) demonstrates evidence that abusive supervision has a positive conditional indirect effect on supervisor-directed destructive voice through subordinates’ relational ego depletion with their supervisors that is stronger for higher LMX differentiation contexts than lower LMX differentiation contexts. We make novel theoretical, empirical, and practical contributions by providing a parsimonious explanation for why relational aspects of supervisory treatment (i.e., abusive supervision and LMX differentiation) drain subordinates’ capacities for controlling their volitional actions during interactions with their supervisors (i.e., relational ego depletion) and how this relationship impacts subordinates’ supervisor-directed destructive voice. Overall, our study extends the application of ego depletion and LMX theories to the examination of abusive supervision and destructive voice in order to meaningfully inform researchers’ attempts to build cohesive streams of research in these areas and practitioners’ attempts to promote ethical workplace environments.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeremy D. Mackey & Lei Huang & Wei He, 2020. "You Abuse and I Criticize: An Ego Depletion and Leader–Member Exchange Examination of Abusive Supervision and Destructive Voice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 579-591, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:164:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-018-4024-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-018-4024-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-018-4024-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-018-4024-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gang Wang & Peter Harms & Jeremy Mackey, 2015. "Does it take two to Tangle? Subordinates’ Perceptions of and Reactions to Abusive Supervision," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(2), pages 487-503, October.
    2. Joshua R. Gubler & Skye Herrick & Richard A. Price & David A. Wood, 2018. "Violence, Aggression, and Ethics: The Link Between Exposure to Human Violence and Unethical Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 25-34, January.
    3. Su-Ying Pan & Katrina Jia Lin, 2018. "Who Suffers When Supervisors are Unhappy? The Roles of Leader–Member Exchange and Abusive Supervision," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 799-811, September.
    4. Deng, Hong & Wu, Chia-Huei & Leung, Kwok & Guan, Yan-Jun, 2016. "Depletion from self-regulation: a resource-based account of the effect of value incongruence," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60978, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Yucheng Zhang & Timothy C. Bednall, 2016. "Antecedents of Abusive Supervision: a Meta-analytic Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 455-471, December.
    6. Long-Zeng Wu & Haina Zhang & Randy Chiu & Ho Kwan & Xiaogang He, 2014. "Hostile Attribution Bias and Negative Reciprocity Beliefs Exacerbate Incivility’s Effects on Interpersonal Deviance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(2), pages 189-199, March.
    7. Stijn Decoster & Jeroen Camps & Jeroen Stouten & Lore Vandevyvere & Thomas Tripp, 2013. "Standing by Your Organization: The Impact of Organizational Identification and Abusive Supervision on Followers’ Perceived Cohesion and Tendency to Gossip," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(3), pages 623-634, December.
    8. Lanaj, Klodiana & Johnson, Russell E. & Barnes, Christopher M., 2014. "Beginning the workday yet already depleted? Consequences of late-night smartphone use and sleep," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 11-23.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shaohui Lei, 2024. "Shedding Light on the Adverse Spillover Effects of Work-Family Conflict on Unethical Sales Behaviors at Work: A Daily Diary Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(2), pages 399-411, March.
    2. Alexander, Katherine C. & Mackey, Jeremy D. & Maher, Liam P. & McAllister, Charn P. & Ellen, B. Parker, 2024. "An implicit leadership theory examination of cultural values as moderators of the relationship between destructive leadership and followers’ task performance," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(3).
    3. Zilong Cui, 2023. "Good soldiers or bad apples? Exploring the impact of employee narcissism on constructive and destructive voice," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Xinqi Du & Md Sohel Chowdhury & Dae-seok Kang, 2022. "Reducing the Negative Effects of Abusive Supervision: A Step towards Organizational Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    5. Rezwan Ullah & Muhammad Zada & Imran Saeed & Jawad Khan & Muhammad Shahbaz & Alejandro Vega-Muñoz & Guido Salazar-Sepúlveda, 2021. "Have You Heard That—“GOSSIP”? Gossip Spreads Rapidly and Influences Broadly," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-16, December.
    6. Lijing Zhao & Long W. Lam & Julie N. Y. Zhu & Shuming Zhao, 2022. "Doing It Purposely? Mediation of Moral Disengagement in the Relationship Between Illegitimate Tasks and Counterproductive Work Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(3), pages 733-747, September.
    7. Arindam Bhattacharjee & Anita Sarkar, 2024. "Abusive supervision: a systematic literature review," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 74(1), pages 1-34, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jeremy D. Mackey & John D. Bishoff & Shanna R. Daniels & Wayne A. Hochwarter & Gerald R. Ferris, 2019. "Incivility’s Relationship with Workplace Outcomes: Enactment as a Boundary Condition in Two Samples," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(2), pages 513-528, March.
    2. Qin Xu & Guangxi Zhang & Andrew Chan, 2019. "Abusive Supervision and Subordinate Proactive Behavior: Joint Moderating Roles of Organizational Identification and Positive Affectivity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 829-843, July.
    3. Orlando C. Richard & O. Dorian Boncoeur & Hao Chen & David L. Ford, 2020. "Supervisor Abuse Effects on Subordinate Turnover Intentions and Subsequent Interpersonal Aggression: The Role of Power-Distance Orientation and Perceived Human Resource Support Climate," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 549-563, July.
    4. Mackey, Jeremy D. & Parker Ellen, B. & McAllister, Charn P. & Alexander, Katherine C., 2021. "The dark side of leadership: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis of destructive leadership research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 705-718.
    5. Xie, Xiao-Yun & Wei, Junjie & Hu, Qiongjing & Liao, Zhenyu, 2023. "Is the door really open? A contingent model of boundary spanning behavior and abusive supervisory behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    6. Rezwan Ullah & Muhammad Zada & Imran Saeed & Jawad Khan & Muhammad Shahbaz & Alejandro Vega-Muñoz & Guido Salazar-Sepúlveda, 2021. "Have You Heard That—“GOSSIP”? Gossip Spreads Rapidly and Influences Broadly," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-16, December.
    7. Vincent Rousseau & Caroline Aubé, 2018. "When Leaders Stifle Innovation in Work Teams: The Role of Abusive Supervision," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 651-664, September.
    8. Jeremy D. Mackey & Charn P. McAllister & Katherine C. Alexander, 2021. "Insubordination: Validation of a Measure and an Examination of Insubordinate Responses to Unethical Supervisory Treatment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(4), pages 755-775, February.
    9. Kim, Andrea & Moon, Jinhee & Shin, Jiseon, 2019. "Justice perceptions, perceived insider status, and gossip at work: A social exchange perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 30-42.
    10. Lee, Randy & Mai, Ke Michael & Qiu, Feng & Ilies, Remus & Tang, Pok Man, 2022. "Are you too happy to serve others? When and why positive affect makes customer mistreatment experience feel worse," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    11. Xing Wang & Tae-Yeol Kim & Hongli Li, 2024. "Why and for whom cyber incivility affects task performance? Exploring the intrapersonal processes and a personal boundary condition," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 615-640, June.
    12. Yuntao Bai & Lili Lu & Li Lin-Schilstra, 2022. "Auxiliaries to Abusive Supervisors: The Spillover Effects of Peer Mistreatment on Employee Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 219-237, June.
    13. Huang, Lei & Krasikova, Dina V. & Liu, Dong, 2016. "I can do it, so can you: The role of leader creative self-efficacy in facilitating follower creativity," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 49-62.
    14. Johnson, Russell E. & King, Danielle D. & (Joanna) Lin, Szu-Han & Scott, Brent A. & Jackson Walker, Erin M. & Wang, Mo, 2017. "Regulatory focus trickle-down: How leader regulatory focus and behavior shape follower regulatory focus," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 29-45.
    15. Fu Yang & Jun Liu & Zhen Wang & Yucheng Zhang, 2019. "Feeling Energized: A Multilevel Model of Spiritual Leadership, Leader Integrity, Relational Energy, and Job Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(4), pages 983-997, September.
    16. Alexander Benlian, 2022. "Sprint Zeal or Sprint Fatigue? The Benefits and Burdens of Agile ISD Practices Use for Developer Well-Being," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 33(2), pages 557-578, June.
    17. Leavitt, Keith & Zhu, Luke (Lei) & Klotz, Anthony & Kouchaki, Maryam, 2022. "Fragile or robust? Differential effects of gender threats in the workplace among men and women," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    18. Miaomiao Li & Xiaofeng Xu & Ho Kwong Kwan, 2023. "The antecedents and consequences of workplace envy: A meta-analytic review," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 1-35, March.
    19. Xia, Ying & Schyns, Birgit & Zhang, Li, 2020. "Why and when job stressors impact voice behaviour: An ego depletion perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 200-209.
    20. Budhi Haryanto & Edi Cahyono, 2019. "Relationship Between Abusive Supervision and Performance: The Role of Gender," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3), pages 305-311.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:164:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-018-4024-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.