Mediating and moderating psychological processes in the links of abusive supervision with instigated incivility, CWBS, OCBS, and multidimensional work motivation

In line with the theoretical framework provided by Job Demands-Resources Model (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner & Schaufeli, 2001), the present study aimed to investigate the effects of abusive supervision on instigated incivility towards co-workers, counterproductive work behaviors, organizational citizenship behaviors, autonomous work motivations (intrinsic, identified), controlled work motivations (external, introjected) and amotivation. In line with the propositions of Job-Demands-Resources Model (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner & Schaufeli, 2001) and Social Exchange Theory (Blau, 1964), it was proposed that employees' identification with their work group would moderate the relationship between abusive supervision and instigated incivility towards co-workers, and that the link of abusive supervision with counterproductive work behaviors and the link of abusive supervision with organizational citizenship behaviors would be partially mediated by organizational identification. Consistent with the propositions of Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2000), abusive supervision is suggested to be directly and positively associated with external regulation and amotivation; however, it was not expected to be significantly related to employees' introjected motivation. Finally, job-related affective well-being was proposed to fully mediate the relationship between abusive supervision and autonomous work motivations, and it was hypothesized to partially mediate the link of abusive supervision with amotivation. Data were collected from 519 white-collar employees via online surveys. The results revealed that abusive supervision was positively associated with instigated incivility towards coworkers; however, contrary to expectations, identification with the work group did not moderate this relationship. Moreover, abusive supervision was positively associated with CWBs both directly and indirectly via its effects on organizational identification. Contrary to expectations, abusive supervision was positively associated with employee OCBs. As expected, job-related affective well-being mediated the relationships between abusive supervision and autonomous work motivations. Also, in line with the expectations, abusive supervision was positively associated with external regulation and amotivation both directly and indirectly through its effects on job-related affective well-being. The findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications as well as suggestions for future research.