The Effect of Abusive Supervision on Subordinates’ Displaced Aggression: Focusing on the Serial Multiple Mediation of Psychological Contract Breach and Job Stress

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 대한리더십학회
· 수록지 정보 : 리더십연구 / 10권 / 1호 / 55 ~ 87페이지
· 저자명 : 조선경, 신제구

초록

This study empirically verified the mechanism behind the subordinates’ use of displaced aggression on colleagues as a way to relieve the stress they experience from abusive supervision.
When employees are ignored or insulted by their supervisors, they undergo intense feelings of stress and anger that trigger the wish to retaliate, but the difference in rank can lead them to express their dissatisfaction and anger on those who are relatively easier to deal with, such as their colleagues, thereby engaging in displaced aggression. Since supervisors are seen as representatives of the organization, abusive supervision can be perceived as a psychological contract breach by employees, and if so, such perception of psychological contract breach can lead to the justification of unproductive behavior and the feeling that one has lost the support of the organization, causing an increase in job stress. Higher job stress levels lead to stress-coping strategies to conserve resources; because abusive supervision is a hindrance stressor, employees are apt to choose an escape strategy to relieve the stress. As a result, the suppressed anger and dissatisfaction manifests itself in the form of displaced aggression as a sort of self-therapeutic stress relief strategy.This study examined the serial multiple mediation of psychological contract breach and job stress in the relationship between abusive supervision and subordinates’displaced aggression. For the accurate identification of the mechanism behind this relationship, a total of 285 samples were collected through a survey on workers at companies with more than 300 employees, and the individual-level differences were controlled by setting Type A personality and negative affectivity as control variables.
The results of the analysis showed that abusive supervision had a positive (+) effect on subordinates’ displaced aggression, and that psychological contract did not directly mediate between abusive supervision and displaced aggression. Also, job stress was found to have a positive mediating effect between abusive supervision and displaced aggression, and the positive serial multiple mediation of psychological contract breach and job stress between abusive supervision and displaced aggression was confirmed.
This research contributes to the theoretical understanding of abusive supervision and its effects by including and verifying displaced aggression as one of its outcome variables and demonstrating how displaced aggression can be triggered from abusive supervision. From the practical standpoint, the results of this study highlight the dangers of the ripple effect of abusive supervision, where the victim of abusive supervision creates other victims through displaced aggression, calling for a greater effort at the organizational level

참고자료

· 없음