Abusive Supervision in Work Organizations: Review, Synthesis, and Research Agenda
Abstract
A growing literature explores abusive supervision, nonphysical forms of hostility perpetrated by managers against their direct reports. However, researchers have used different terminology to explore phenomena that overlap with abusive supervision, and extant research does not devolve from a unifying theoretical framework. These problems have the potential to undermine the development of knowledge in this important research domain. The author therefore provides a review of the literature that summarizes what is known about the antecedents and consequences of abusive supervision, provides the basis for an emergent model that integrates extant empirical work, and suggests directions for future research.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In accordance with SET, trust should decrease over time as a result of unfavourable exchanges with a leader, which may even contribute to feelings of distrust of the leader.
“In accordance with SET, trust should decrease over time as a result of these unfavourable exchanges with a leader which may even contribute to feelings of distrust of the leader (Tepper, 2007).”
From A meta-analysis of the role of trust in the leadership- performance relationship (2021) · cites this paper as Tepper, 2007
Abusive supervision is theorised to reduce followers' trust in leaders.
“The reciprocation of positive exchanges with a leader builds trust. In contrast, if a leader engages in abusive behaviour, it will inevitably reduce followers' trust in leaders. Thus, in accordance with SET, trust decreases over time as a result of unfavourable exchanges with a leader. Abusive supervision represents unpleasant behaviours that can be predicted to contribute to feelings of distrust”
From A meta-analysis of the role of trust in the leadership- performance relationship (2021) · cites this paper as Tepper, 2007
Cites
Interorganizational Collaboration and the Locus of Innovation: Networks of Learning in Biotechnology
Powell, W. W., Koput, K. W., & Smith-Doerr, L. (1996) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2393988 · Cited by 8,499 · see citing works
Comparative Economic Organization: The Analysis of Discrete Structural Alternatives
Williamson, O. E. (1991) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2393356 · Cited by 7,151 · see citing works
Modes of Network Governance: Structure, Management, and Effectiveness
Provan, K. G., & Kenis, P. (2007) · Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory · doi:10.1093/jopart/mum015 · Cited by 4,006 · see citing works
Collaboration and Creativity: The Small World Problem
Uzzi, B., & Spiro, J. (2005) · American Journal of Sociology · doi:10.1086/432782 · Cited by 1,885 · see citing works
Social Networks and Organizations
Kilduff, M., & Tsai, W. (2003) · doi:10.4135/9781849209915 · Cited by 1,581 · see citing works
The Costly Pursuit of Self-Esteem
Crocker, J., & Park, L. E. (2004) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.130.3.392 · Cited by 1,402 · see citing works
Antecedents and outcomes of abusive supervision: test of a trickle-down model.
Aryee, S., Chen, Z. X., Sun, L.-Y., & Debrah, Y. A. (2007) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.92.1.191 · Cited by 914 · see citing works
Abusive supervision and subordinates’ organizational citizenship behavior.
Zellars, K. L., Tepper, B. J., & Duffy, M. K. (2002) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037//0021-9010.87.6.1068 · Cited by 896 · see citing works
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINANTS AND INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL MODERATORS OF ALLIANCE USE.
DICKSON, P. H., & WEAVER, K. M. (1997) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.2307/256888 · Cited by 381 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
A meta-analysis of the dark triad and work behavior: a social exchange perspective
O'Boyle, E. H., Forsyth, D. R., Banks, G. C., & McDaniel, M. A. (2012) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0025679 · Cited by 1,331 · see citing works
How bad are the effects of bad leaders? A meta-analysis of destructive leadership and its outcomes
Schyns, B., & Schilling, J. (2013) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2012.09.001 · Cited by 1,245 · see citing works
Abusive supervision: A meta-analysis and empirical review
Mackey, J. D., Frieder, R. E., Brees, J. R., & Martinko, M. J. (2017) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206315573997 · Cited by 706 · see citing works
A meta-analytic review of ethical leadership outcomes and moderators
Bedi, A., Alpaslan, C. M., & Green, S. (2016) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-015-2625-1 · Cited by 698 · see citing works
Narcissism and Leadership: A Meta‐Analytic Review of Linear and Nonlinear Relationships
Grijalva, E., Harms, P. D., Newman, D. A., Gaddis, B. H., & Fraley, R. C. (2015) · Personnel Psychology · doi:10.1111/peps.12072 · Cited by 572 · see citing works
Leadership and stress: A meta-analytic review
Harms, P. D., Credé, M., Tynan, M., Leon, M., & Jeung, W. (2017) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2016.10.006 · Cited by 558 · see citing works
Lian, H., Ferris, D. L., & Brown, D. J. (2012) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0024610 · Cited by 489 · see citing works
Barnes, C. M., Lucianetti, L., Bhave, D. P., & Christian, M. S. (2015) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2013.1063 · Cited by 441 · see citing works
Shoss, M. K., Eisenberger, R., Restubog, S. L. D., & Zagenczyk, T. J. (2013) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0030687 · Cited by 368 · see citing works
Third parties’ reactions to the abusive supervision of coworkers
Mitchell, M. S., Vogel, R. M., & Folger, R. (2015) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/apl0000002 · Cited by 337 · see citing works
Mackey, J. D., Parker Ellen, B., McAllister, C. P., & Alexander, K. C. (2021) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.10.037 · Cited by 320 · see citing works
Den Hartog, D. N. (2015) · Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032414-111237 · Cited by 324 · see citing works
Abusive supervision: A systematic review and fundamental rethink
Fischer, T., Tian, A. W., Lee, A., & Hughes, D. J. (2021) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2021.101540 · Cited by 318 · see citing works
Leadership Styles: A Comprehensive Assessment and Way Forward
Fischer, T., & Sitkin, S. B. (2023) · Academy of Management Annals · doi:10.5465/annals.2020.0340 · Cited by 303 · see citing works
Qin, X., Huang, M., Johnson, R. E., Hu, Q., & Ju, D. (2018) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2016.1325 · Cited by 244 · see citing works
Abusive Supervision Climate: A Multiple-Mediation Model of its Impact on Group Outcomes
Priesemuth, M., Schminke, M., Ambrose, M. L., & Folger, R. (2014) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2011.0237 · Cited by 230 · see citing works
The susceptible circle: a taxonomy of followers associated with destructive leadership.
Thoroughgood, C. N., Padilla, A., Hunter, S. T., & Tate, B. W. (2012) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2012.05.007 · Cited by 210 · see citing works
A meta-analysis of the role of trust in the leadership- performance relationship
Legood, A., van der Werff, L., Lee, A., & Den Hartog, D. (2021) · European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1080/1359432x.2020.1819241 · Cited by 193 · see citing works
Zhang, Y., Liu, X., Xu, S., Yang, L.-Q., & Bednall, T. C. (2019) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206318823935 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Writing Nonempirical Articles for Journal of Management: General Thoughts and Suggestions
Cropanzano, R. (2009) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206309344118 · Cited by 176 · see citing works
Bowling, N. A., & Michel, J. S. (2011) · Work & Stress · doi:10.1080/02678373.2011.634281 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Cleansing my abuse: A reparative response model of perpetrating abusive supervisor behavior
Liao, Z., Yam, K. C., Johnson, R. E., Liu, W., & Song, Z. (2018) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/apl0000319 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
An Investigation of Abusive Supervision, Vicarious Abusive Supervision, and Their Joint Impacts
Harris, K. J., Harvey, P., Harris, R. B., & Cast, M. (2013) · The Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/00224545.2012.703709 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Nevicka, B., De Hoogh, A. H. B., Den Hartog, D. N., & Belschak, F. D. (2018) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00422 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
“For instance, low self-esteem individuals are less likely to retaliate against abusive leaders (Tepper, 2007) than those with high self-esteem.”
BackgroundInfluentialWang, L., Restubog, S., Shao, B., Lu, V., & Van Kleef, G. A. (2018) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2015.0460 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Empathy Is All You Need: How a Conversational Agent Should Respond to Verbal Abuse
Chin, H., Molefi, L. W., & Yi, M. Y. (2020) · Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3313831.3376461 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Dolce, V., Vayre, E., Molino, M., & Ghislieri, C. (2020) · Social Sciences · doi:10.3390/socsci9110196 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Erkutlu, H. V., & Chafra, J. (2017) · EuroMed Journal of Business · doi:10.1108/emjb-04-2016-0012 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Staw, B. M., DeCelles, K. A., & de Goey, P. (2019) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/apl0000418 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Liu, X., Mao, J., Chiang, J. T., Guo, L., & Zhang, S. (2023) · Applied Psychology · doi:10.1111/apps.12432 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Zhang, Y., Liu, X., & Chen, W. (2020) · Journal of Business and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s10869-019-09650-x · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Making nice or faking nice? Exploring supervisors’ two-faced response to their past abusive behavior
McClean, S. T., Courtright, S. H., Yim, J., & Smith, T. A. (2021) · Personnel Psychology · doi:10.1111/peps.12424 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Technology-enacted abusive supervision and its effect on work and family
Valle, M., Carlson, D. S., Carlson, J. R., Zivnuska, S., Harris, K. J., & Harris, R. B. (2021) · The Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/00224545.2020.1816885 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Führungskompetenzen der Zukunft
Felfe, J., Ducki, A., & Franke, F. (2014) · Fehlzeiten-Report 2014 · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-43531-1_14 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
İçsel pazarlamanın yaratıcı çalışan performansı üzerindeki etkisinde narsist liderliğin rolü
KAYNAK, İ., AKILLIBAŞ, E., & ÇİÇEK, B. (2022) · Business & Management Studies: An International Journal · doi:10.15295/bmij.v10i2.2014 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Toxic leadership, overwork and stress: review and integration of the last 15 years
Mishra, R., & Jena, L. K. (2025) · Leadership & Organization Development Journal · doi:10.1108/lodj-02-2025-0140 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
- Authors
- Tepper, B. J.
- Affiliations
- Georgia State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Tepper, Bennett J.
- ORCID
- Tepper, Bennett J.
- Venue
- Journal of Management
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2007-06
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 261-289
- ISSN
- 0149-2063 (ISSN-L)
- 1557-1211
- OpenAlex
- W2010449071
- Semantic Scholar
- 745354d094926c6dd5aa1ae4d8b2d87db205d206
- Cited by
- 1,698
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 83 · 2025: 110 · 2024: 104 · 2023: 140 · 2022: 123 · 2021: 159 · 2020: 118 · 2019: 121 · 2018: 115 · 2017: 95 · 2016: 83 · 2015: 90 · 2014: 70 · 2013: 76 · 2012: 71
- FWCI
- 102.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Management (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Workplace Violence and Bullying
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Emotional Labor in Professions
- Keywords
- abusive supervision, supervisor-employee relations, research agenda
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review