How Abusive Supervision Affects Employees' Unethical Behaviors: A Moderated Mediation Examination of Turnover Intentions and Caring Climate

Shubo Liu; Qianlin Zhu; Feng Wei

doi:10.3390/ijerph16214187

How Abusive Supervision Affects Employees' Unethical Behaviors: A Moderated Mediation Examination of Turnover Intentions and Caring Climate

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Oct 29;16(21):4187. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16214187.

Authors

Shubo Liu¹, Qianlin Zhu², Feng Wei³

Affiliations

¹ Business School, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China. liushubo@cufe.edu.cn.
² School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China. zhuqianlin@tongji.edu.cn.
³ School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China. fwei@tongji.edu.cn.

Abstract

Drawing on psychological contract theory, this research contributes to the unethical behavior literature by exploring employees' turnover intentions as a mediator of the relationship between abusive supervision and employees' unethical behavior and the moderating role of the caring climate in the relationship between turnover intentions and unethical behavior. The results from a sample of 679 reveal that turnover intentions mediate relationship between abusive supervision and subordinates' unethical behavior, and caring climate moderates the positive relationship between turnover intentions and subordinates' unethical behavior. We also find that the indirect effect is moderated by the caring climate. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Keywords: abusive supervision; caring climate; turnover intentions; unethical behavior.

MeSH terms

Administrative Personnel / psychology*
Adult
Bullying / ethics*
Bullying / psychology*
China
Empathy / ethics*
Female
Humans
Male
Manufacturing and Industrial Facilities*
Middle Aged
Personnel Turnover / statistics & numerical data*
Workplace / psychology*