How to cope with an abusive leader? Examinations of subordinates’ affective reactions, CWB-O and turnover intentions

When subordinates experience abusive supervision, they often respond with “fight” (e.g., organizationally-directed counterproductive work behavior: CWB-O) or “flight” reactions (e.g., turnover intentions). Drawing on cognitive appraisal theory, we propose that negative (NA) and positive affect (PA) explain these distinct responses and that coworker emotional support differentially moderates the relationships of affective states with CWB-O and turnover intention. That is, we expect that emotional support exacerbates the mediating effect of NA, whereas it weakens the mediating effect of PA. We tested the hypothesized model in two time-lagged studies, one among subordinates (N = 162), and the other among supervisor-subordinate dyads (N = 255 dyads). Results confirmed that the relation between abusive supervision and CWB-O was mediated by NA, and that the relation between abusive supervision and turnover intentions was mediated by PA. Coworker emotional support strengthened the mediating effect of NA, but it did not attenuate the mediating effect of PA. These results only hold for CWB-O, not for supervisor-rated CWB-O. Explanations, implications as well as limitations and ideas for future research are discussed.