
Threatening the Self: The Conditional Indirect Effect of Abusive Supervision on Well-Being
Abstract
Occupational self-efficacy is a valuable resource for well-being and health in the workplace, but according to the stress-as-offense-to-self model, it can be threatened by abusive supervisors. In our study, we examined this mechanism through which abusive supervisors indirectly affect subordinates’ well-being. Assuming differences between male and female subordinates regarding occupational self-efficacy, we considered gendered responses to abusive supervision. We studied 928 participants, nested within 188 teams, who rated their self-efficacy and their direct supervisors’ leadership behaviour and who indicated work engagement and depressive symptoms at 2 time points with a lag of 6 months. Longitudinal relationships among the study variables were modelled using latent differences scores. Results showed that abusive supervision is indirectly related to work engagement and depressive symptoms regardless of gender.
© 2022 Christiane R. Stempel, Thomas Rigotti, published by Stockholm University Press
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