How Abusive Supervision Makes Me Seek Feedback: From a Resource Acquisition Perspective

While researches have primarily focused on the detrimental effects of abusive supervision, scholars still found its potential positive effects. Drawing from the conservation of resources theory, we develop and test a model that specifies how and why abusive supervision increases subordinates’ feedback seeking behaviors. Via a two-wave sampling study, we found that abusive supervision was positively related to subordinates’ workplace anxiety, which in turn interacted with subordinates’ regulatory focus to predict subordinates’ feedback seeking behaviors. When subordinates were highly prevention-focused, workplace anxiety was likely to make them engage in feedback monitoring. In contrast, highly promotion-focused subordinates were inclined to choose feedback inquiry. The implications of these findings and future research directions have been discussed.