Leader personality, abusive supervision and employee outcomes : an integrative model

In this study, I propose an integrative model that examines both antecedents and outcomes of abusive supervision. I integrate personality theory into the abusive supervision literature, examining how both widely and narrowly defined leader personality traits are associated with abusive supervision. In addition, I investigate how employees' power distance orientations and job type (white-collar and blue-collar) impact the abusive supervision-outcome linkage and potential underlying mechanisms. I tested this model using a sample of 1,009 workers from 136 work teams in four organizations in China. The study used a three-wave time-lagged design and obtained responses from individual employees and their team leaders. The results overall provide support for the proposed model and several of the hypotheses. The results indicate that leader agreeableness is an important predictor of abusive supervision and that ethical climate moderates the relationship between leader narcissism and abusive supervision. Regarding the relationship between abusive supervision and employee outcomes, this study supports that interactional justice is an important mediator. In addition, the findings show that the indirect effects via interactional justice are different for white-collar and blue-collar employees, highlighting the importance of considering job type as a key boundary condition in future studies. In contrast to prior research, this study does not provide strong evidence for the moderating role of power distance orientation on the relationship between abusive supervision and employee outcomes. Theoretical contributions and future directions are discussed.