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Making Sense of “Good” and “Bad”: A Deonance and Fairness Approach to Abusive Supervision and Prosocial Impact

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2020

Michael A. Johnson Open the ORCID record for Michael A. Johnson [Opens in a new window] ,
Manuela Priesemuth  and
Bailey Bigelow
Michael A. Johnson
Affiliation:
Louisiana State University
Manuela Priesemuth
Affiliation:
Villanova University
Bailey Bigelow
Affiliation:
University of Central Florida
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Abstract

This article challenges the unidimensional view of abusive supervisors and examines how employees respond to abuse when the transgressing boss also has a positive impact on others. Drawing on deonance and fairness theory, we propose competing hypotheses about the influence of prosocial impact. Specifically, we use deonance theory to suggest that prosocial impact might buffer the effects of abusive supervision. Alternatively, we incorporate fairness theory to predict that prosocial impact strengthens injustice perceptions and thereby worsens consequences of abuse. Two field studies show support for fairness theory, demonstrating that employees perceive greater injustice, and show stronger retaliatory behaviors, when the abusive supervisor makes a positive difference in the workplace. A final field study replicates these results, while also testing the underlying cognitive process employees use to assess the interplay between “good” and “bad” supervisory characteristics. This article contributes insights to abusive supervision, prosocial impact, organizational justice, and behavioral ethics literatures.

Keywords

abusive supervisionprosocial impactdeonance theoryfairness theoryorganizational justiceemployee deviance
Type
Article
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 31 , Issue 3 , July 2021 , pp. 386 - 420
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for Business Ethics

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