How management style moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and workplace deviance: An uncertainty management theory perspective

Authors

Stefan Thau, London Business School, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4SA, UK
Rebecca J. Bennett, Louisiana Tech University, USAFollow
Marie S. Mitchell, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Mary Beth Marrs, College of Business, University of Missouri, USA

Date of this Version

July 2008

Comments

Published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (2008); doi 10.1016/j.obhdp.2008.06.003 Copyright © 2008 Elsevier Inc. Used by permission. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/07495978

Abstract

Based on uncertainty management theory [Lind, E. A., & Van den Bos, K., (2002). When fairness works: Toward a general theory of uncertainty management. In Staw, B. M., & Kramer, R. M. (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 24, pp. 181–223). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.], two studies tested whether a management style depicting situational uncertainty moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and workplace deviance. Study 1, using survey data from 379 subordinates of various industries, found that the positive relationship between abusive supervision and organizational deviance was stronger when authoritarian management style was low (high situational uncertainty) rather than high (low situational uncertainty). No significant interaction effect was found on interpersonal deviance. Study 2, using survey data from 1477 subordinates of various industries, found that the positive relationship between abusive supervision and supervisor-directed and organizational deviance was stronger when employees’ perceptions of their organization’s management style reflected high rather than low situational uncertainty.