The Suleman Dawood School of Business (SDSB) is organising a PhD Management Dissertation Defence.
June 1, 2022
Time:
2:00 pm
Faculty Lounge, SDSB Building (4th floor)
The dissertation is by Hajra Asad, PhD Management Candidate.
Zoom Link: https://lums-edu-pk.zoom.us/j/91960162335?pwd=a0JKWExFVzUzMXJOaHMxSkI1SUVWZz09
Meeting ID: 919 6016 2335
Passcode: 477976
Dissertation Defence Committee:
- Dr. Arif Nazir Butt - Supervisor and Chair
- Dr. Muhammad Abdur Rahman Malik - Member, SDSB
- Dr. Muhammad Adeel Zaffar - Member, SDSB
- Dr. Abdul Karim Khan - Member, UAEU
- Dr. Tariq Jadoon - Member, LUMS
- Dr. Muhammad Abbas - External Examiner (FAST)
Abstract:
The literature on perceived abusive supervision has mainly focused on its negative consequences. Padilla, Hogan, and Kaiser (2007) argued that destructive leadership is the function of the interaction of three elements: the leader, the context, and followers, calling them the 'toxic triangle'. This study aims to explore all the three elements of this triangle and take a counterintuitive stance by investigating whether perceived abusive supervision could result in positive subordinate performance. Based on the trait activation theory and Schwartz’s value theory, this study conceptualises that a high desire for control and high need for achievement of the leader in a perceived competitive psychological climate will be positively associated with perceived abusive supervision. Drawing from the attribution theory and trait activation theory, this study also hypothesises that there will be a positive relationship between perceived abusive supervision and subordinate task performance if subordinates attribute the mistreatment to the leader’s motive of improving their performance and if the subordinates are high in core self-evaluation.
Data was collected from 250 subordinates and 76 supervisors from private sector organisations in Pakistan. The results revealed that the relationship between a leader’s desire for control and perceived abusive supervision was moderated by the leader’s need for achievement and perceived competitive climate. It also revealed that the positive relationship between perceived abusive supervision and subordinate performance was moderated by subordinate-attributed performance promotion motive. This study contributes to the literature on perceived abusive supervision as it deepens our understanding of the role of the organisational context and the leader’s own motives in the emergence of this leadership behaviour. This study also extends the research on the role of subordinates’ own attributions of their abusive supervisor’s motives in impacting the subordinates’ performance. This study informs managers of the pressures embedded in a competitive organisational environment. It signifies the importance of establishing a healthy competitive organisational environment.
