Beyond the Bully: Exploring the Surprising Performance-Related Outcomes of Abusive Supervision

Abstract

The common definitions of leadership include positive qualities such as vision, ethics, responsibility, respect, and trustworthiness. However, recent studies revealed an increase in unethical behaviors performed by organizational leaders, prompting academics to investigate the harmful types and impacts of leadership. One area of focus has been abusive supervision, which was found to have both positive and negative effects on organizational outcomes including subordinate and supervisor performance. While the harmful effects on subordinates have been a major focus in studies on abusive supervision, some scholars suggested that supervisors’ abusive behaviors may yield temporary functional results and be used as a strategy for leaders to improve work performance. To illustrate, researchers demonstrated the positive association between abusive supervision and work performance when subordinates attribute abusive behaviors to an effort to increase motivation rather than an intention to harm the employee (Li et al., 2022; Liao et al., 2021; Tepper et al., 2015). However, there is limited knowledge about these destructive behaviors’ impact on supervisors. One of these few studies showed that engaging in abusive supervisory behavior was positively correlated with supervisors’ recovery levels. Moreover, abusive supervisory behavior indirectly contributed to increased work engagement through its positive effect on the recovery level (Qin et al., 2018). The present chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the effects of abusive supervision on work performance, outlining both the negative and positive work-, employee-, and supervisor-related outcomes. Additionally, this chapter unfolds potential directions for future research regarding the relationships of abusive supervision with in-role and extra-role performance. Finally, we present practical recommendations for leaders and organizations to minimize the detrimental effects of abusive supervision. The literature findings will be presented in conjunction with various theoretical explanations, concepts, and propositions. © 2024 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.