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Standing by Your Organization: The Impact of Organizational Identification and Abusive Supervision on Followers’ Perceived Cohesion and Tendency to Gossip

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Abstract

Abusive supervision has been shown to have significant negative consequences for employees’ well-being, attitudes, and behavior. However, despite the devastating impact, it might well be that employees do not always react negatively toward a leader’s abusive behavior. In the present study, we show that employees’ organizational identification and abusive supervision interact for employees’ perceived cohesion with their work group and their tendency to gossip about their leader. Employees confronted with a highly abusive supervisor had a stronger perceived cohesion and engaged in less gossiping behavior when they identified more strongly with their organization. Our findings illustrate that organizational identification functions as a buffer for those confronted with an abusive supervisor.

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Notes

  1. We would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for this suggestion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, Box 3725, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Stijn Decoster, Jeroen Camps, Jeroen Stouten & Lore Vandevyvere

  2. Washington State University, 14204 NE Salmon Creek Avenue, Vancouver, WA, USA

    Thomas M. Tripp

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  1. Stijn Decoster
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  2. Jeroen Camps
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  3. Jeroen Stouten
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  4. Lore Vandevyvere
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  5. Thomas M. Tripp
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Correspondence to Stijn Decoster.

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Decoster, S., Camps, J., Stouten, J. et al. Standing by Your Organization: The Impact of Organizational Identification and Abusive Supervision on Followers’ Perceived Cohesion and Tendency to Gossip. J Bus Ethics 118, 623–634 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1612-z

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