Research On The Formation Mechanism Of Abusive Supervision Under Work Stressors And Its Effect On Subordinates' Behavior

In recent years,in order to gain sustainable competitive advantages in a rapidly volatile environment,enterprises have to spare no efforts in continuous innovation and development,which brings great work stress to the employees in the enterprise.Recent researches have found that the phenomenon of abusive supervision is on the rise,some of which might be attributed to increasing work stress.Abusive supervision can temporarily improve the recovery level and work engagement of supervisors.But in the long term,it not only has devastating effects on subordinates'work attitudes and performances,but also has deleterious effects on team and organization.Therefore,how to effectively prevent and control abusive supervision behavior in the workplace is an important issue of both theoretical and practical research.In order to effectively manage and control abusive supervision,we can control such behavior from the sources and its consequences Therefore,from the perspective of antecedents and consequences of abusive supervision,this study discusses the formation mechanism of abusive supervision under two distinct categorized stressors:challenge stressors and hindrance stressors,as well as the curvilinear effect of abusive supervision on subordinates' proactive behavior.These discussions can help enterprises take a more targeted approach to manage and control abusive supervision,which is of great significance to the management and development of enterprises.This study follows the logic of raising,analyzing and solving problems,and solves two key questions.The first one is about "how does the abusive supervision come into forming in the challenge-hindrance stressors situation";and the second one is about "how does the abusive supervision have a curvilinear effect on subordinates'proactive behavior".First of all,this paper reviews and comments on the literature of the conceptual connotation,measurement and antecedents of abusive supervision,as well as its relationship with other related variables.Secondly,according to the deficiency of existing literature,this paper constructs the overall conceptual model through literature research and forms three sub studies from the perspective of the antecedents and consequences of abusive supervision.Study 1 and 2 explore the complex relationship between challenge-hindrance stressors and abusive supervision from the perspective of antecedents,and answer the first question.Study 3 explores the curvilinear relationship between abusive supervision and subordinates' proactive behavior from the perspective of consequences,and answers the second question.Third,three sub studies are tested by empirical method.Finally,research conclusions and practical implications are drawn by summarizing the research results of the three sub studies.The results show that:(1)Challenge stressors and hindrance stressors have similar positive effects on abusive supervision behavior via the mediating effect of ego depletion.(2)When supervisors with a high level of emotional intelligence,the positive relationship between challenge-hindrance stressors and ego depletion is weaker,and the indirect effect of challenge-hindrance stressors on abusive supervision through ego depletion is also weaker.(3)Challenge stressors reduce abusive supervision through positive affective experience,while hindrance stressors increase abusive supervision through negative affective experience.(4)When supervisors with a high level of locus of control,on one hand,challenge stressors have a stronger positive effect on positive affective experience,and the indirect effect of challenge stressors on abusive supervision through positive affective experience is also stronger.On the other hand,hindrance stressors have a weaker positive effect on negative affective experience,and the indirect effect of hindrance stressors on abusive supervision through negative affective experience is also weaker.(5)There is an inverse U-shaped relationship between abusive supervision and proactive behavior,which is a theoretical appropriate value for the perception of abusive supervision.When abusive supervision is in an appropriate value,the proactive behavior of subordinates is the optimal.(6)The family-work support of subordinates can play a partial moderating role in the curvilinear relationship between abusive supervision and subordinates' proactive behavior.Specifically,the higher the level of subordinates' family-work support,the more obvious the enhancing effect of abusive supervision on subordinates' proactive behavior.However,when the subordinates' perception of abusive supervision exceeds the appropriate value,the moderating effect of family-work support is not significant.From the perspective of research,this study starts from the perspective of two-dimensional work stressors,and further explores the formation mechanism of abusive supervision under work stressors by analyzing the complex relationship between challenge-hindrance stressors and abusive supervision.The results first expand previous studies on the relationship between stressors and abusive supervision from the classification of two-dimensional stressors.Second,they further break the previous literature only focusing on the negative impact of work stressors,and verify the positive effect of challenge stressors.The results help to guide enterprises to distinguish the types of workplace stressors,so as to prevent and control the emergence of abusive supervision in a more effective way.From the contents of research,first,the current study reveals why and when challenge-hindrance stressors have a similar effect on abusive supervision from the perspective of resource depletion.Second,the current study reveals why and when challenge-hindrance stressors have a differentiated effect on abusive supervision from the perspective of resource gain and depletion.Third,the current study reveals why and when abusive supervision has a curvilinear effect on subordinates' proactive behavior through the perspective of resource dynamic.