Abstract:
Within organizations, leaders often exercise significant power and influence over
many aspects of their employees' work lives. While many leaders successfully
provide substantial support to their employees, others fail to meet this standard
for various reasons. The corrupt nature of power can lead some leaders to exploit
and mistreat their followers, with increasing evidence of destructive leadership.
Despite numerous studies on the negative consequences of leadership, the
reasons behind abusive supervision remain poorly understood. This raises the
question: why do supervisors abuse their subordinates? The nature of garment
factories and hierarchical structures enable supervisors to exert dominance over
vulnerable workers, often women or marginalized groups, who fear job loss and
have limited employment alternatives. Hence, this study aimed to examine the
antecedents of abusive supervision. Supervisor-related antecedents, including
downward envy and psychological entitlement, and subordinate-related
antecedents, such as organizational deviance and employee performance, were
considered independent variables, with abusive supervision as the dependent
variable. Additionally, the study examined the moderating effect of the
supervisor's self-control on the relationship between supervisor-related
antecedents and abusive supervision. The research primarily targeted
employees working in garment factories across Sri Lanka, focusing on a
population of 40,000 workers. The garments industry plays a significant role in
the country's economy and employs a substantial portion of the workforce. Using
convenience sampling, the study selected 224 respondents from this population.
Primary data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire
distributed between December 2023 and March 2024. By incorporating the dyad
method, this research delved into the interpersonal aspects of abusive
supervision, focusing on the dynamics between supervisors and their
subordinates. The findings of the study reveal a significant, weak positive
relationship between variables such as downward envy, psychological
entitlement, organizational deviance, employee performance, and abusive
supervision. Regression analysis indicates that downward envy, psychological
entitlement, and organizational deviance significantly affect abusive supervision.
Additionally, employee performance positively affects abusive supervision.
Moreover, the results show that the supervisor’s self-control does not significantly moderate the relationship between supervisor-related antecedents
and abusive supervision. Furthermore, the investigation into the moderating role
of supervisor self-control adds a unique understanding of how individual
differences among supervisors can influence the expression of the corrupt nature
of power. Organizations should consider implementing training programs for
supervisors that focus on emotional intelligence and self-regulation to mitigate
the effects of downward jealousy and psychological entitlement associated with
abusive supervision
