Business Commons^™

Making Nice Or Faking Nice? Exploring Supervisors’ Two-Faced Response To Their Past Abusive Behavior, Shawn T. Mcclean, Stephen H. Courtright, Junhyok Yim, Troy A. Smith

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Although extant research has shown that abusive supervision is a destructive and immoral form of leader behavior, theory provides conflicting perspectives on how supervisors respond to their own abusive behavior. We therefore draw upon and integrate moral cleansing theory and impression management and construction theory to explore whether and when supervisors engage in genuine reparations or impression management following episodes of abusive behavior. Results taken from a 3-week, experience sampling study of supervisors suggest support for the impression management path; following episodes of abusive behavior, supervisors higher on symbolized moral identity become more concerned with their image, and thus engage …