Work-to-family spillover effects of abusive supervision

Purpose - The current study seeks to examine the link between abusive supervision and subordinate family undermining by focusing on the mediating role of work-to-family conflict and the moderating role of boundary strength at home. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected using a three-wave survey research design. Participants included 209 employees from a manufacturing company in China. Hierarchical regression analyses and a bootstrapping algorithm were used to test the hypothesized relationships. Findings - The results indicate that abusive supervision is positively related to family undermining, and this relationship is mediated by work-to-family conflict. Moreover, boundary strength at home attenuates the direct relationship of abusive supervision with work-to-family conflict and its indirect relationship with family undermining. Research limitations/implications - This research contributes to the integration of the work-family interface model and the abusive supervision literature by providing evidence of a link between abusive supervision in the workplace and conflict in the home. This study also indicates that abusive supervision is a problem of both organizational and societal importance in China. However, data are correlational in nature, which limits the ability to draw causal inferences. Practical implications - Findings provide evidence that abusive supervision is a source of work-to-family conflict and undermining behavior in the home. Training employees to create boundaries between work and family domains may minimize the negative spillover effects of work on the family. Originality/value - This study provides a relatively comprehensive model regarding the relationships between abusive supervision and work-family consequences, and a promising new direction for both the leadership and work-family literatures.