管理者大五人格与心理契约违背对辱虐管理的影响:基于特质激发理论的实证分析

The Effects of Supervisor Big-five Personality Traits and Psychological Contract Violation on Abusive Supervision: The Empirical Analysis Based on Trait Activation Theory

基于特质激发理论探讨管理者人格特质和心理契约违背对实施辱虐管理的影响,并进一步分析了管理者人格特质与心理契约违背之间的交互作用对辱虐管理的影响。以213份两轮时点的配对问卷为样本,通过多元线性回归方法进行实证检验,结果表明:(1)管理者的亲和力对辱虐管理有显著的负向作用,而神经质则对辱虐管理有显著的正向作用;(2)管理者心理契约违背对辱虐管理有显著的正向影响;(3)心理契约违背不但调节了管理者亲和力与辱虐管理之间的负向联系,还调节了神经质与辱虐管理之间的正向联系。

Despite researchers＇ increasing attention on abusive supervision, few studies have investigated its antecedents by focusing on personality traits. Drawing on a person-situation interaction perspective, this study proposed the main and interactive effects of psychological contract violation and personality traits on supervisors＇ abusive supervision. The participants in this study were the employees of a large-sized manufacturing company in South China. Two waves of data collection were conducted in order to reduce the potential common method bias. In the first-wave survey （T1）, the supervisors completed a survey to report their big-five personality trait, perceptions of psychological contract violation from the company, and demographic data. In the second-wave survey （T2） conducted six months after T1, their immediate subordinates were asked to report their perceptions of abusive supervision from the supervisors and demographic data. With the assistance of the human resource manager of this company, we obtained a randomly selected list of 460 supervisors and their subordinates （each supervisor was matched with one subordinate）. Survey questionnaires were coded before distribution, and the human resources department assisted in matching the identity numbers and names of respondents with the responses of the T1 and T2 surveys conducted. In T1,356 questionnaires were completed and returned, representing a response rate of 77.39 per cent. Six months later, when the T2 survey was conducted, questionnaires were distributed to these 356 immediate subordinates, with 213 questionnaires completed and returned, representing a response rate of 59.55 per cent. Hence, the final sample of this study consisted of 213 matched supervisors-immediate subordinates＇ dyads. Among these 213 supervisors, 51.2 per cent were male and the average age was 36.72 years old （SD = 6.26）. Among the 213 supervisors＇ immediate subordinates, 52.58 per cent were male and the average age was 33.18 years old （SD = 6.86）. We employed multi-regression analysis to explore the relationship between psychological contract violation, big-five personality traits and supervisors＇ abusive supervision. The results indicated that： （1） Supervisors＇ agreeableness was negatively related, while neuroticism was positively related, to abusive supervision; （2） Supervisors＇ perceptions of psychological contract violation were positively related to abusive supervision; （3） Perceptions of psychological contract violation not only strengthened the negative relationship between agreeableness and abusive supervision, but also strengthened the positive relationship between neuroticism and abusive supervision. Although many studies have indicated that abusive supervision could cause harm to individuals and organizations, we knew little about the causes of abusive supervision. By integrating the factors of person （i.e., personality traits） and situation （i.e., perceptions of psychological contract violation）, this study made important contributions to the growing literature on abusive supervision. Our findings, combined with our literature review, have provided evidence that both personality traits and organizational situation will predict abusive supervision; especially, the result showed that the interaction of personality traits and organizational situation influenced abusive supervision. This result extended existing knowledge and explained why and when the supervisors do exhibit abusive behaviors in their organization. Practical implications of the results were discussed.