The Mediating Roles of Supervisor Anger and Envy in Linking Subordinate Performance to Abusive Supervision: A Curvilinear Examination

• Published in: Journal of applied psychology 2024-07, Vol.109 (7), p.1004-1021
• Main Authors: Li, Yolanda Na, Law, Kenneth S., Zhang, Melody Jun, Yan, Ming
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abuse of Power; Adult; Anger; Employment - psychology; Envy; Female; Human; Humans; Interpersonal Relationships; Jealousy; Male; Multisource; Personnel Management; Supervision; Supervisor Employee Interaction; Supervisor-Subordinate interactions; Supervisors; Work Performance
• ISSN: 0021-9010; 1939-1854; 1939-1854
• DOI: 10.1037/apl0001141

This research aims to understand why both low and high subordinate performance can induce abusive supervision. Drawing on the framework of affective events theory and research on anger and envy, we posit that low performance incurs abuse due to supervisor anger, whereas high performance elicits abuse due to supervisor envy. More specifically, subordinate performance has a decreasing curvilinear relationship with supervisor anger (i.e., a negative effect that gradually dissipates) and an increasing curvilinear relationship with supervisor envy (i.e., a positive effect that gradually emerges). Through supervisor anger and envy, subordinate performance therefore presents different curvilinear indirect relationships with abusive supervision. The results from two vignette-based experiments and a multiwave, multisource field study support these hypotheses. We further find that supervisor comparison orientation augments the curvilinear emergence of supervisor envy and ensuing abuse in response to higher subordinate performance. However, regardless of their level of performance orientation, supervisors are prone to higher anger and subsequent abusive supervision in response to lower subordinate performance.