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Boss’s bullying may affect larger work environment, not just victim

Co-workers of employees who are targeted by an abusive supervisor may be affected vicariously by the supervisor’s behavior, according to recent study results.

“Although our study looked at the effects of abuse in the context of supervisors and employees, a ‘big picture’ interpretation of our findings is that, in any relationship, the fallout from abuse may impact more than just the intended victim,” study researcher Paul Harvey, PhD, associate professor of organizational behavior at the University of New Hampshire, told Psychiatric Annals. “In an organizational setting, we found that this fallout can include victims of abuse becoming abusive themselves and taking their frustration out on fellow employees. More subtly, abusive supervision might create emotional contagion effects in which the negative moods and perceptions common among abuse victims are spread to other employees.”

 

Paul Harvey

Harvey and colleagues surveyed 233 employees from a wide range of occupations in the southeastern United States, including teachers, bankers, lawyers, receptionists and state government workers. Participants reported on abusive supervision, vicarious abusive supervision, job frustration, organizational support and co-worker abuse.

On average, participants were aged 42.6 years, had maintained their job for 7 years, stayed at the same company for 10 years and worked 46 hours per week.

Regression analyses indicated that abusive supervision and vicarious abusive supervision individually led to job frustration (P<.01), co-worker abuse (P<.01) and a lack of perceived organizational support (P<.01). However, abusive supervision and vicarious abusive supervision combined had even greater negative consequences for co-workers, according to the researchers.

“These findings suggest that a supervisor who decides to take his or her aggression out on a single employee — maybe an underachiever whom the supervisor doesn’t mind upsetting — might actually be negatively impacting the behaviors and performance of other employees vicariously,” Harvey said. “This underscores the importance of helping supervisors channel the stress and frustration that often comes with a leadership position in non-abusive ways. We already knew that abuse was not a constructive means of stress mitigation, but this study identifies another type of consequence that most supervisors have probably not considered.”

Disclosure: Harvey reports no relevant financial disclosures.