Understanding Cycles of Abuse: A Multimotive Approach

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Simon, Lauren S.; Hurst, Charlice; Kelley, Ken; Judge, Timothy A.
• 署名单位: Portland State University; University of Notre Dame
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-9010
• DOI: 10.1037/apl0000031
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 1798-1810
• 关键词: ABUSIVE SUPERVISION; DISCRETE EMOTIONS; multimotive model; supervisor-directed behaviors; reciprocal relationships

摘要

Fundamental to the definition of abusive supervision is the notion that subordinates are often victims of a pattern of mistreatment (Tepper, 2000). However, little research has examined the processes through which such destructive relational patterns emerge. In this study, we draw from and extend the multimotive model of reactions to interpersonal threat (Smart Richman & Leary, 2009) to formulate and test hypotheses about how employees' emotional and behavioral responses may ameliorate or worsen supervisors' abuse. To test this model, we collected 6 waves of data from a sample of 244 employees. Results revealed reciprocal relationships between abusive supervision and both supervisor-directed counterproductive behavior and supervisor-directed avoidance. Whereas the abusive supervision-counterproductive behavior relationship was partially driven by anger, the abusive supervisionavoidance relationship was partially mediated by fear. These findings suggest that some may find themselves in abusive relationships, in part, because their own reactions to mistreatment can, perhaps unknowingly, reinforce abusive behavior.