An identity threat perspective on why and when employee voice brings abusive supervision

Editorial verdict

Methodologically sound but geographically constrained. The mediation and moderation findings are statistically supported across multi-source, multi-time data, but the single-company, China-only sample and cross-sectional design limit causal inference and generalizability — treat the identity threat mechanism as a credible hypothesis requiring replication, not a confirmed universal finding.

Executive summary

This study investigates the conditions under which employee voice — a constructive, proactive workplace behavior — may paradoxically trigger abusive supervision. Drawing on identity threat theory and implicit leadership theory, the authors propose and test a moderated mediation model in which employee voice elevates perceptions of leader identity threat, which in turn predicts abusive supervision, with supervisor traditionality functioning as a boundary condition. Data were collected from 93 supervisors and 533 subordinates in a single large Chinese company across two time points. Structural equation modeling via Mplus confirmed all five hypotheses: employee voice positively predicted leader identity threat; this relationship was significantly stronger among high-traditionality supervisors; leader identity threat positively predicted abusive supervision; and the indirect effect of employee voice on abusive supervision via leader identity threat was moderated by supervisor traditionality. The study contributes to abusive supervision literature by identifying a positive employee behavior as an antecedent of abuse, empirically testing an identity threat mechanism that had previously been theorized but not directly examined, and integrating cultural values (Confucian traditionality) as a moderator of implicit leadership cognition.

Frameworks mentioned

References

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