The effects of Abusive Supervision on employees’ Withdrawal Behaviors

【Abstract】This study examined abusive supervision, its likely effects on withdrawal behaviors and organizational commitment and the moderating and mediating effects of respectively, turnover intention and organization commitment. The analysis of several articles and dissertations has provided theoretical support for the hypothesis formulated. Further, an empirical study has been suggested in both western and non-western countries to test the model developed in order to implement strategies based on the findings.

【Key words】Abusive Supervision;Withdrawal Behaviors;Organizational Commitment;Turnover Intention

0.Introduction

Supervisors and managers in any organization share the objective of making certain that the work environment runs efficiently in order to foster the company productivity. However, some supervisors instead of using fairly their power, constantly yell at workers, block someone's promotions, ridiculing and humiliating subordinates in front of their peer, or otherwise belittle subordinates. Such bad behavior identified in the psychology literature as abusive supervision can lead employees to feel that supervisors have not any consideration for them. Abusive supervisory is a series of mistreatments inflicted on a subordinate by his supervisor (Tepper, 2000). Previous studies in western countries have shown that the abusive behavior of the supervisor can affect employees psychologically and lead them to question their self-work, become dissatisfied about their job, less committed and sometimes withdraw from their work (Tepper, Moss, Lockhart, & Carr, 2007).Several researchers have also identified the factors that can reduce (Tepper, Carr, Breaux, Geider, Hu & Hua, 2009) or explain (Tepper, 2008) its effects in the workplace. Therefore, willing to provide empirical support for previous findings in western context, our research questions are as follow:

1-What are the effects of abusive supervision in the workplace specifically on employees’ withdrawal behavior and their commitment?

2-How and when turnover intention can moderate the relationship between abusive supervision and withdrawal behavior?

3-How organizational commitment can mediate the joint impact of abusive supervision and turnover intention on withdrawal behavior?

The purpose of this review is to examine several studies pertaining to abusive supervision, how they describe and explain abusive supervision, its likely effects on withdrawal behavior and organizational commitment and analyze the moderating and mediating effects of respectively turnover intention and abusive supervision.