The Dark Side of Leadership: A Three-Level Investigation of the Cascading Effect of Abusive Supervision on Employee Creativity
" Academy of Management Journal 2012. Vol. 55. No. 5. 1187-1212. hltp://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.0400
THE DARK SIDE OF LEADERSHIP: A THREE-LEVEL INVESTIGATION OF THE CASCADING EFFECT OF ABUSIVE SUPERVISION ON EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY
DONG LIU Georgia Institute of Technology HUILIAO University of Maryland RAYMOND LOI University of Macau
This research sheds light on the role of the dark side of leadership in employee creativity by examining how and when department leader abusive supervision may flow down organizational levels to undermine team member creativity. Analyses of multiphase, multisource, and multilevel data show that team leader abusive supervision mediates the negative relationship between department leader abusive supervision and team member creativity. Team leaders' and members' attributions for the motives behind their own supervisors' abusive supervision, which we classify as performance-promotion and injury-initiation motives, determine the extent to which team leader abusive supervision accounts for the effect of department leader abusive supervision on team member creativity.
Because of the rapidly changing economy and continuing globalization of business, employee creativity—referring to the development of novel and useful ideas about products, practices, services or procedures—has become increasingly crucial for the survival and competitiveness of organizations today (Shalley, Gilson, & Blum, 2009). A plethora of research has looked at the link between positive leader behaviors such as "transformational leadership" and employee creativity (e.g.. Shin & Zhou, 2003). Nevertheless, existing knowledge on the role of leadership in employee creativity remains incomplete because little is known as to whether the dark side of leadership in general and abusive supervision in particular may affect creative performance of employees. Drawing on a comprehensive review of psychological studies, Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Finkenauer, and Vohs (2001)
THE DARK SIDE OF LEADERSHIP: A THREE-LEVEL INVESTIGATION OF THE CASCADING EFFECT OF ABUSIVE SUPERVISION ON EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY
DONG LIU Georgia Institute of Technology HUILIAO University of Maryland RAYMOND LOI University of Macau
This research sheds light on the role of the dark side of leadership in employee creativity by examining how and when department leader abusive supervision may flow down organizational levels to undermine team member creativity. Analyses of multiphase, multisource, and multilevel data show that team leader abusive supervision mediates the negative relationship between department leader abusive supervision and team member creativity. Team leaders' and members' attributions for the motives behind their own supervisors' abusive supervision, which we classify as performance-promotion and injury-initiation motives, determine the extent to which team leader abusive supervision accounts for the effect of department leader abusive supervision on team member creativity.
Because of the rapidly changing economy and continuing globalization of business, employee creativity—referring to the development of novel and useful ideas about products, practices, services or procedures—has become increasingly crucial for the survival and competitiveness of organizations today (Shalley, Gilson, & Blum, 2009). A plethora of research has looked at the link between positive leader behaviors such as "transformational leadership" and employee creativity (e.g.. Shin & Zhou, 2003). Nevertheless, existing knowledge on the role of leadership in employee creativity remains incomplete because little is known as to whether the dark side of leadership in general and abusive supervision in particular may affect creative performance of employees. Drawing on a comprehensive review of psychological studies, Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Finkenauer, and Vohs (2001)