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Are “Bad” Employees Happier Under Bad Bosses? Differing Effects of Abusive Supervision on Low and High Primary Psychopathy Employees

Author

Listed:
  • Charlice Hurst

    (University of Notre Dame)

  • Lauren Simon

    (University of Arkansas)

  • Yongsuhk Jung

    (Korea Air Force Academy)

  • Dante Pirouz

    (Western University)

Abstract

Psychopathy is typically seen as a trait that is undesirable in any context, including the workplace. But several authors have suggested that people high in psychopathy might possess resources that preserve their ability to perform well in stressful contexts. We consider the possibility that primary psychopathy is adaptive—for the employee, if not for the organization—under conditions of abusive supervision. In particular, we draw from the multimotive model of interpersonal threat (Smart Richman and Leary in Psychol Rev 116:365–383, 2009) and the theory of purposeful work behavior (Barrick et al. in Acad Manag Rev 38:132–153, 2013) to argue that high primary psychopathy individuals possess characteristics that enable them to experience higher levels of well-being and lower levels of anger than their peers under abusive supervisors. Based on a scenario study and a time-lagged field study, we found support for a model in which abusive supervision moderates the relationships between primary psychopathy and positive work-related outcomes (positive affect and engagement), such that these relationships are positive under conditions of abusive supervision and either diminished or negative under conditions of low abusive supervision. Abusive supervision also affected the relationship between primary psychopathy and anger in the field study such that high primary psychopathy individuals were less angry under more abusive supervisors. Thus, there appears to be some credence to the notion of a “psychopathic advantage” in that primary psychopaths do have access to greater psychological resources than their peers under abusive supervision. However, these findings also suggest that abusive supervisors may empower employees with characteristics that hold strong potential to damage the organization and its stakeholders.

Suggested Citation

  • Charlice Hurst & Lauren Simon & Yongsuhk Jung & Dante Pirouz, 2019. "Are “Bad” Employees Happier Under Bad Bosses? Differing Effects of Abusive Supervision on Low and High Primary Psychopathy Employees," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(4), pages 1149-1164, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:158:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-017-3770-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-017-3770-5
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dan Chiaburu & Gonzalo Muñoz & Richard Gardner, 2013. "How to Spot a Careerist Early On: Psychopathy and Exchange Ideology as Predictors of Careerism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(3), pages 473-486, December.
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    4. Alasdair Marshall & Melanie Ashleigh & Denise Baden & Udechukwu Ojiako & Marco Guidi, 2015. "Corporate Psychopathy: Can ‘Search and Destroy’ and ‘Hearts and Minds’ Military Metaphors Inspire HRM Solutions?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 495-504, May.
    5. Clive Boddy, 2011. "The Corporate Psychopaths Theory of the Global Financial Crisis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 255-259, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Yuntao Bai & Lili Lu & Li Lin-Schilstra, 2022. "Auxiliaries to Abusive Supervisors: The Spillover Effects of Peer Mistreatment on Employee Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 219-237, June.
    2. Anna Sutton & Maree Roche & Madeleine Stapleton & Anja Roemer, 2020. "Can Psychopathy Be Adaptive at Work? Development and Application of a Work Focused Self- and Other-Report Measure of the Triarchic Psychopathy Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-17, June.

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