title: Suffering in silence: Investigating the role of fear in the relationship between abusive supervision and defensive silence.
abstract: Drawing from an approach-avoidance perspective, we examine the relationships between subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision, fear, defensive silence, and ultimately abusive supervision at a later time point. We also account for the effects of subordinates' assertiveness and individual perceptions of a climate of fear on these predicted mediated relationships. We test this moderated mediation model with data from three studies involving different sources collected across various measurement periods. Results corroborated our predictions by showing (a) a significant association between abusive supervision and subordinates' fear, (b) second-stage moderation effects of subordinates' assertiveness and their individual perceptions of a climate of fear in the abusive supervision-fear-defensive silence relationship (with lower assertiveness and higher levels of climate-of-fear perceptions exacerbating the detrimental effects of fear resulting from abusive supervision), and (c) first-stage moderation effects of subordinates' assertiveness and climate-of-fear perceptions in a model linking fear to defensive silence and abusive supervision at a later time. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Management/Marketing Department, University of Dayton.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3385-485X
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kiewitz
authors.affiliation: Research School of Management, Australian National University.
authors.forename: Simon Lloyd D
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Restubog
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida.
authors.forename: Mindy K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Shoss
authors.affiliation: Grossman School of Business, University of Vermont.
authors.forename: Patrick Raymund James M
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.affiliation: School of Management and Information Technology, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde.
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D058445:Bullying; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology*; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009934:Organization and Administration; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*