Abstract:
Two studies (a cross-sectional survey of 90 UK workers and an experiment with 100
UK workers) examined the cognitive and behavioral effects of abusive supervision.
Both studies confirmed the hypothesis that workers who experience abusive
supervision show paranoia and this makes them more prone to a type of cognitive
error called the “sinister attribution error”. This is where workers misattribute
innocent workplace events such as tripping over something or hearing colleagues
laughing to malevolent motives such as wanting to harm or mock them. Study 1 also
showed that abusive supervision is associated with lower wellbeing. Perceived
organizational support buffers these effects, and this is associated with workers
making less sinister attribution errors, thereby protecting wellbeing. Study 2 explored
the role of contextual cues by exposing workers to images of abusive supervision.
This increased their paranoia and contributed to workers making sinister attribution
errors when they were asked to interpret workplace events. Moreover, depending on
the types of contextual cues, workers were more likely to express intention of
workplace deviance after thinking about past experiences of abusive supervision. We
recommend that corporate ethical responsibilities include training managers and
workers about the negative cognitive and mental health effects of abusive supervision.
