Abusive Supervision and its influence on Employee Silence and Organizational Productivity: Evidence from Pakistan

Kamran  Phulpoto; Nazar Hussain Phulpoto; Manzoor Ali  Brohi; Saifullah  Memon

doi:10.52633/jemi.v3i2.90

Authors

Kamran Phulpoto Department of Public Administration, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Pakistan Author
Nazar Hussain Phulpoto Department of Public Administration, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Pakistan Author
Manzoor Ali Brohi Balochistan,Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences Author
Saifullah Memon Department of Information Technology, QUEST, Nawabshah Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52633/jemi.v3i2.90

Keywords:

Abusive Supervision, Employee Silence, Organization Productivity, Organization Culture

Abstract

It is the need of every organization to maximize its profits by working with efficient and effective organizational tools and to make the best use of organizational resources. For a business to gain profit it is essential for managers and decision-makers to keep the pace of generating profits always at a certain mark. This study aims to identify potential managerial problems for businesses operating in Pakistan, specifically related to employee-supervisor relationships. The study is a novel attempt in this field as it intends to uncover the employee silence aspects in the event of abusive supervision and finds its impact on overall organizational performance. The research was carried out with a sample of 110 responses collected from public and private organizations in Pakistan. This research has identified that with the increase in abusive leadership, there will be a decrease in organizational productivity and employees’ silence will also significantly increase. Meanwhile, employee silence has a comparatively larger effect i.e., 12% on the productivity of an organization, than the direct effect of abusive supervision on productivity. The study findings accentuate that the organizational leadership team should work on maintaining fair treatment of every employee and decrease the extent of abusive supervising behaviour at work in order to maximize profits and let employees use their potential creativity to give the best output that organizations really expect them to provide.

Author Biographies

Kamran Phulpoto, Department of Public Administration, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Pakistan

Department of Public Administration, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Pakistan
Nazar Hussain Phulpoto, Department of Public Administration, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Pakistan

Faculty, Department of Public Administration, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Pakistan
Manzoor Ali Brohi, Balochistan,Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences

Faculty, Department of Management Sciences, City Campus, Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences, Quetta, Pakistan
Saifullah Memon, Department of Information Technology, QUEST, Nawabshah

Faculty, Department of Information Technology, Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering, Science and Technology, Nawabshah

References

Agarwal, U. A., & Avey, J. B. (2020). Abusive supervisors and employees who cyberloaf: examining the roles of psychological capital and contract breach. Internet Research. 30(3), 789-809. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-05-2019-0208

Allen, H. M., & Bunn, W. B. (2003). Validating Self-Reported Measures of Productivity at Work: A Case for Their Credibility in a Heavy Manufacturing Setting. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 45(9), 926–940. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.jom.0000090467.58809.5c

Avey, J. B., Wu, K., & Holley, E. (2015). The influence of abusive supervision and job embeddedness on citizenship and deviance. Journal of Business Ethics, 129(3), 721-731. https://doi:10.1007/s10551-014-2192-x

Bagozzi, R. P., & Yi, Y. (2011). Specification, evaluation, and interpretation of structural equation models. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(1), 8–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-011-0278-x

Bandura, A. (1973). Aggression: A Social Learning Analysis (The Prentice-Hall Series in Social Learning Theory). Hardcover (10th Printing edition). (2021). Prentice Hall.

Beheshtifar, M., Borhani, H., & Moghadam, M. N. (2012). Destructive role of employee silence in organizational success. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2(11), 275.

Bennett, R. J., & Robinson, S. I. (2000). Development of a measure of workplace deviance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(3), 349–360. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.85.3.349

Biron, M. (2010). Negative reciprocity and the association between perceived organizational ethical values and organizational deviance. Human Relations, 63(6), 875–897. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726709347159

Böckerman, P., & Ilmakunnas, P. (2012). The job satisfaction-productivity nexus: A study using matched survey and register data. ILR Review, 65(2), 244-262.

Bogosian, R. (2011). Engaging organizational voice: A phenomenological study of employees' lived experiences of silence in work group settings (Doctoral dissertation, The George Washington University).

Boswell, W. R., Olson-Buchanan, J. B., & LePine, M. A. (2004). Relations between stress and work outcomes: The role of felt challenge, job control, and psychological strain. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 64(1), 165–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0001-8791(03)00049-6

Bowen, F., & Blackmon, K. (2003). Spirals of Silence: The Dynamic Effects of Diversity on Organizational Voice*. Journal of Management Studies, 40(6), 1393–1417. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6486.00385

Breaux, D., Tepper, B., Carr, J., Geider, S., Hu, C., & Hua, W. (2009). Abusive supervision, intentions to quit, and employees’ workplace deviance: A power/dependence analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109(2), 156–167.

Brinsfield, C. T. (2012). Employee silence motives: Investigation of dimensionality and development of measures. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(5), 671–697. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1829

Brown, M. E., & Mitchell, M. S. (2010). Ethical and Unethical Leadership: Exploring New Avenues for Future Research. Business Ethics Quarterly, 20(4), 583–616. https://doi.org/10.5840/beq201020439

Casimir, G., Ng, Y. N. K., Wang, K. Y., & Ooi, G. (2014). The relationships amongst leader-member exchange, perceived organizational support, affective commitment, and in-role performance: A social-exchange perspective. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.

Cole, M. S., Shipp, A. J., & Taylor, S. G. (2016). Viewing the interpersonal mistreatment literature through a temporal lens. Organizational Psychology Review, 6(3), 273-302.

Cole, M. S., Walter, F., & Bruch, H. (2008). Affective mechanisms linking dysfunctional behavior to performance in work teams: A moderated mediation study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(5), 945–958. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.93.5.945

Cropanzano, R., & Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social exchange theory: An interdisciplinary review. Journal of Management, 31(6), 874–900. doi:10.1177/0149206305279602.

Dedahanov, A. T., & Rhee, J. (2015). Examining the relationships among trust, silence and organizational commitment. Management Decision.

Detert, J. R., & Edmondson, A. C. (2011). Implicit Voice Theories: Taken-for-Granted Rules of Self-Censorship at Work. Academy of Management Journal, 54(3), 461–488. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.61967925

Dineen, B. R., Noe, R. A., Shaw, J. D., Duffy, M. K., & Wiethoff, C. (2007). Level and dispersion of satisfaction in teams: Using foci and social context to explain the satisfaction-absenteeism relationship. Academy of Management Journal, 50(3), 623-643.

Djellal, F., & Gallouj, F. (2013). The productivity challenge in services: measurement and strategic perspectives. The Service Industries Journal, 33(3–4), 282–299. https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2013.747519

Donaghey, J., Cullinane, N., Dundon, T., & Wilkinson, A. (2017). Reconceptualising employee silence: Problems and prognosis. Work, employment and society, 25(1), 51-67.

Duffy, R., Martin, H., Bryan, N., & Raque-Bogdan, T. (2008). Measuring individual research productivity: A review and development of the integrated research productivity index. Journal of counseling psychology, 55(4), 518.

Dyne, L. V., Ang, S., & Botero, I. C. (2003). Conceptualizing employee silence and employee voice as multidimensional constructs. Journal of management studies, 40(6), 1359-1392.

Einarsen, S., Aasland, M. S., & Skogstad, A. (2007). Destructive leadership behaviour: A definition and conceptual model. The Leadership Quarterly, 18(3), 207–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2007.03.002

Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., Zapf, D., & Cooper, C. (2011). The concept of bullying and harassment at work: the European tradition. Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace: Developments in Theory, Research, and Practice, pp. 3-39.

England, P. H. (2015). Measuring employee productivity – topic overview. London: PHE publications gateway number: 2014819.

Gabler, C. B., & Hill, R. P. (2015). Abusive supervision, distributive justice, and work-life balance: Perspectives from salespeople and managers. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 35(3), 247-261.

Glasø, L., & Notelaers, G. (2012). Workplace Bullying, Emotions, and Outcomes. Violence and Victims, 27(3), 360–377. https://doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.27.3.360

Glenngård, A. H. (2013). Productivity and patient satisfaction in primary care—Conflicting or compatible goals? Health Policy, 111(2), 157–165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2013.04.012

Gosselin, E., Lemyre, L., & Corneil, W. (2013). Presenteeism and absenteeism: Differentiated understanding of related phenomena. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 18(1), 75–86. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030932

Haggard, D. L., Robert, C., & Rose, A. J. (2010). Co-Rumination in the Workplace: Adjustment Trade-offs for Men and Women Who Engage in Excessive Discussions of Workplace Problems. Journal of Business and Psychology, 26(1), 27–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-010-9169-2

Harris, K. J., Harvey, P., & Kacmar, K. M. (2011). Abusive supervisory reactions to coworker relationship conflict. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(5), 1010–1023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2011.07.020

Harris, K. J., Kacmar, K. M., & Boonthanum, R. (2005). The interrelationship between abusive supervision, leader-member exchange, and various outcomes. In annual meeting of the Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Los Angeles.

Harvey, P., Harris, K., & Kacmar, K. (2011). Abusive supervisory reactions to coworker relationship conflict. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(5), 1010–1023.

Hogan, R., & Kaiser, R. B. (2005). What we know about Leadership. Review of General Psychology, 9(2), 169–180. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.9.2.169

Hoobler, J. M., & Brass, D. J. (2006). Abusive supervision and family undermining as displaced aggression. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(5), 1125–1133. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.91.5.1125

Hoobler, J. M., & Hu, J. (2013). A model of injustice, abusive supervision, and negative affect. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(1), 256–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2012.11.005

Inness, M., Barling, J., & Turner, N. (2005). Understanding supervisor-targeted aggression: A within-person, between-jobs design. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(4), 731–739. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.90.4.731

Khan, U. (2021). Effect of Employee Retention on Organizational Performance. Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management, and Innovation, 2(1), 52-66. https://doi.org/10.52633/jemi.v2i1.47

Knoll, M., & Van Dick, R. (2013). Do I hear the whistle…? A first attempt to measure the four forms of employee silence and their correlates. Journal of business ethics, 113(2), 349-362.

Ko, Y. J., & Choi, J. N. (2019). Overtime work as the antecedent of employee satisfaction, firm productivity, and innovation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40(3), 282-295.

Lin, W., Wang, L., & Chen, S. (2013). Abusive supervision and employee well‐being: The moderating effect of power distance orientation. Applied Psychology, 62(2), 308-329.

Linna, P., Pekkola, S., Ukko, J., & Melkas, H. (2010). Defining and measuring productivity in the public sector: managerial perceptions. International Journal of Public Sector Management.

Liu, D., Liao, H., & Loi, R. (2012). The dark side of leadership: A three-level investigation of the cascading effect of abusive supervision on employee creativity. Academy of management journal, 55(5), 1187-1212.

Maben, J., Peccei, R., Adams, M., Robert, G., Richardson, A., Murrells, T., & Morrow, E. (2016). Patients’ experiences of care and the influence of staff motivation, affect and wellbeing. Final Report. NIHR Service Delivery and Organisation Programme, 2012.

Maqbool, S., Černe, M., & Bortoluzzi, G. (2019). Micro-foundations of innovation: Employee silence, perceived time pressure, flow and innovative work behaviour. European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 22 Issue: 1, pp.125-145.

Martin, C. R., Horne, D. A., & Chan, W. S. (2001). A perspective on client productivity in business‐to‐business consulting services. International Journal of Service Industry Management.

Martinko, M. J., Harvey, P., Brees, J. R., & Mackey, J. (2013). A review of abusive supervision research. Journal of organizational behavior, 34(S1), S120-S137.

McGowan, A. (2012). Organizational Discourses: Sounds of Silence. A thesis submitted to the Faculty of graduate studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto.

Middlemiss, S. (2011). The psychological contract and implied contractual terms: Synchronous or asynchronous models?. International Journal of Law and Management.

Morrison, E. W. (2014). Employee voice and silence. Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ. Behav., 1(1), 173-197.

Morrison, E. W., & Milliken, F. J. (2010). Organizational silence: A barrier to change and development in a pluralistic world. Academy of Management Review, 25(4), 706-725.

Ng, T. W., & Feldman, D. C. (2008). Long work hours: A social identity perspective on meta‐analysis data. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 29(7), 853-880.

Oh, J. K., & Farh, C. I. (2017). An emotional process theory of how subordinates appraise, experience, and respond to abusive supervision over time. Academy of Management Review, 42(2), 207-232.

Osenbach, J. E., Lewis, C., Rosenfeld, B., Russo, J., Ingraham, L. M., Peterson, R., ... & Zatzick, D. F. (2014). Exploring the longitudinal trajectories of posttraumatic stress disorder in injured trauma survivors. Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes, 77(4), 386-397.

Panahi, B., Veiseh, S., Divkhar, S., & Kamari, F. (2012). An empirical analysis on influencing factors on organizational silence and its relationship with employee’s organizational commitment. Management Science Letters, 2(3), 735-744.

Park, J. H., & Ono, M. (2016). Effects of workplace bullying on work engagement and health: the mediating role of job insecurity. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, pp. 1-24, doi: 10.1080/09585192.2016.1155164.

Pinder, C. C., & Harlos, K. P. (2001). Employee silence: Quiescence and acquiescence as responses to perceived injustice. In Research in personnel and human resources management. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Rai, A., & Agarwal, U. A. (2017). Linking workplace bullying and work engagement: the mediating role of psychological contract violation. South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management, 4(1), 42-71.

Rai, A., & Agarwal, U. A. (2018). Workplace bullying and employee silence: A moderated mediation model of psychological contract violation and workplace friendship. Personnel Review.

Rousseau, D. M. (1989). Psychological and implied contracts in organizations. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 2(2), 121–139. doi:10.1007/BF01384942.

Rousseau, M. B., Eddleston, K. A., Patel, P. C., & Kellermanns, F. W. (2014). Organizational resources and demands influence on workplace bullying. Journal of Managerial Issues, 286-313.

Schat, A. C., Frone, M. R., & Kelloway, E. K. (2006). Prevalence of Workplace Aggression in the US Workforce: Findings from a National Study.

Sheehan, M., McCarthy, P., Barker, M., & Henderson, M. (2001, June). A model for assessing the impacts and costs of workplace bullying. In Standing Conference on Organisational Symbolism (SCOS), Trinity College, Dublin (Vol. 30).

Shoss, M. K., Eisenberger, R., Restubog, S. L. D., & Zagenczyk, T. J. (2013). Blaming the organization for abusive supervision: The roles of perceived organizational support and supervisor's organizational embodiment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(1), 158.

Sturman, M. C., & Walsh, K. (2014). Strengthening the employment relationship: The effects of work‐hours fit on key employee attitudes. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(6), 762-784.

Sung, S. Y., & Choi, J. N. (2014). Do organizations spend wisely on employees? Effects of training and development investments on learning and innovation in organizations. Journal of organizational behavior, 35(3), 393-412.

Tangirala, S., & Ramanujam, R. (2018). Employee silence on critical work issues: The cross level effects of procedural justice climate. Personnel Psychology, 61(1), 37-68.

Tepper, B. J. (2000). Consequences of abusive supervision. Academy of Management Journal, 43(2), 178-190.

Tepper, B. J., & Henle, C. A. (2010). A case for recognizing distinctions among constructs that capture interpersonal mistreatment in work organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32(3), 487–498. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.688

Tepper, B. J., Carr, J. C., Breaux, D. M., Geider, S., Hu, C., & Hua, W. (2009). Abusive supervision, intentions to quit, and employees’ workplace deviance: A power/dependence analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109(2), 156–167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.03.004

Tepper, B. J., Moss, S. E., & Duffy, M. K. (2011). Predictors of Abusive Supervision: Supervisor Perceptions of Deep-Level Dissimilarity, Relationship Conflict, and Subordinate Performance. Academy of Management Journal, 54(2), 279–294. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.60263085

Vakola, M., & Bouradas, D. (2005). Antecedents and consequences of organisational silence: an empirical investigation. Employee relations.

Valle, M., Kacmar, K. M., Zivnuska, S., & Harting, T. (2019). Abusive supervision, leader-member exchange, and moral disengagement: A moderated-mediation model of organizational deviance. The Journal of social psychology, 159(3), 299-312.

Wall, T. D., Michie, J., Patterson, M., Wood, S. J., Sheehan, M., Clegg, C. W., & West, M. (2004). On the validity of subjective measures of company performance. Personnel Psychology, 57(1), 95-118.

Wang, Y. D., & Hsieh, H. H. (2013). Organizational ethical climate, perceived organizational support, and employee silence: A cross-level investigation. Human Relations, 66(6), 783-802.

Wright, P. M., & McMahan, G. C. (2011). Exploring human capital: putting ‘human’back into strategic human resource management. Human resource management journal, 21(2), 93-104.

Wu. (2013). Productivity in the Modern Office: A Matter of Impact. Retrieved from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/productivity-in-the-modern-office-a-matter-of-impact/

Xu, A. J., Loi, R., & Lam, L. W. (2015). The bad boss takes it all: How abusive supervision and leader member exchange interact to influence employee silence. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(5), 763-774.

Yang, H., Phelps, C., & Steensma, H. K. (2010). Learning from what others have learned from you: The effects of knowledge spillovers on originating firms. Academy of Management Journal, 53(2), 371-389.

Zelkowitz, M., Basili, V., Asgari, S., Hochstein, L., Hollingsworth, J., & Nakamura, T. (2005, September). Measuring productivity on high performance computers. In Software Metrics, IEEE International Symposium on (pp. 6-6). IEEE Computer Society.

Zellars, K. L., Tepper, B. J., & Duffy, M. K. (2002). Abusive supervision and subordinates' organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of applied psychology, 87(6), 1068.