Striving For Goals in Workplace: The Contingent Effects of Abusive Supervision on Voice

Based on motivated action theory, we examined whether or not subordinates performance goal orientations moderated the relationship between abusive supervision and employees promotive and prohibitive voice. We used survey data from 205 supervisor-subordinate dyads from various manufacturing and service providing enterprises to test out hypotheses. Results show that performance-prove goal orientation can promote the positive effect and buffer the negative effect of abusive supervision on voice. Specifically, for subordinates with high level of performance-prove goal orientation, abusive supervision is positively associated with promotive voice, while for subordinates with low level of performance-prove goal orientation, the above relationship becomes negative. On the other hand, performance-avoid goal orientation exacerbates the negative effects of abusive supervision, by which the negative associations between abusive supervision and promotive and prohibitive voice are stronger for individuals with high level of performance-avoid goal orientation rather than low level of performance-avoid goal orientation. Theoretical and managerial implications, limitations, and directions for future research are provided.