Do workplace contextual factors engender abusive supervision?

Drawing upon affective events theory (AET), this study seeks to investigate the effects of workplace contextual factors – such as procedural justice climate (PJC), or a lack thereof – on subordinates’ ‘perception of abusive supervision’ (AS), which is largely overlooked in the domain of AS. The data (213 subordinates across 51 work groups) showed that subordinates’ perception of AS and their feelings of anger, in turn, mediated the deleterious effects of PJC (or a lack thereof) on subordinates’ organisational citizenship behaviours (OCBs). The study contributes to the AS literature by highlighting and investigating PJC, building on understanding around subordinates’ perceptions of AS. Also, by incorporating a two-stage mediating mechanism (stage 1: AS, stage 2: anger), this study investigates the full impact of the cascading effects of AS. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. JEL Classification: C3, C31, C91, D23 © The Author(s) 2020.