J Bus Ethics (2017) 145:21–31

DOI 10.1007/s10551-015-2859-y

Nightmare Bosses: The Impact of Abusive Supervision

on Employees’ Sleep, Emotions, and Creativity
Guohong Helen Han1 • P. D. Harms2 • Yuntao Bai3

Received: 29 March 2015 / Accepted: 15 September 2015 / Published online: 9 October 2015
 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Abstract In the present study, we examine the process Introduction

through which abusive supervision impacts employee cre-
ativity. Specifically, we test whether abusive supervision is In spite of the ongoing problems with the national economy,
associated with lower levels of employee creativity and if more Americans are leaving their current jobs for other
this effect is mediated by employee sleep deprivation and opportunities (Forbes.com 2014). Surveys of workers have
emotional exhaustion. Results showed that abusive super- found that the number one reason that employees quit their
vision had an indirect negative relationship with employee jobs is a bad boss (Gallup 2013) as opposed to a problem with
creativity via its impact on employee sleep deprivation and their job or their organization. This is perhaps unsurprising
emotional exhaustion. These findings contribute to a better considering that 65–75 % of workers report that the worst
understanding of the negative effects of abusive supervi- aspect of their job is their immediate supervisor (Hogan and
sion on employee creativity and the processes by which Kaiser 2005). These high estimates are reflective of the fact
they occur. that poor management often goes beyond simply being inef-
fective as a leader to being actively detrimental to the well-
Keywords Abusive supervision
Creativity
Emotional being and productivity of followers (Krasikova et al. 2013;
exhaustion
Sleep Spain et al. 2014). Indeed, prior research has demonstrated
that the negative impact of destructive leadership on employee
outcomes is at least as strong as the positive influence of
constructive leadership behaviors (Schyns and Schilling
2013). One particular form of destructive leadership, abusive
supervision (Tepper 2000), has been associated with a large of
& Yuntao Bai
number of organizational outcomes including increased
[email protected] employee stress and workplace deviance as well as decreased
Guohong Helen Han
job satisfaction, performance, and organizational commit-
[email protected] ment (Mackey et al. 2015; Martinko et al. 2013; Tepper 2007;
P. D. Harms
Zhang and Bednall 2015). That said, very little is known about
[email protected] the processes by which perceptions of abusive supervision
actually influence behavioral and emotional outcomes (Mar-
1
Youngstown State University, Williamson College of tinko et al. 2013). The present study aims to build on the
Business Administration, One University Plaza, Youngstown,
OH 44555, USA
existing literature by exploring the impact of abusive super-
2
vision on a relatively unexamined employee outcome, cre-
University of Alabama, Culverhouse College of Commerce,
ative performance, as well as testing two potential mediators
131 Alston, Box 870225, 361 Stadium Dr., Tuscaloosa,
AL 35487, USA of this relationship: sleep deprivation and emotional
3 exhaustion.
Xiamen University, School of Management, Room 620,
Jiageng Building 1, Siming South Road # 422, Creativity can be defined as the generation of innovative
Xiamen 361005, China and useful concepts (Amabile 1996). Employee creative

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22 G. H. Han et al.

performance can range from making simple suggestions for bullying (Boddy 2011; Pilch and Turska 2015; Vega and
process improvement to making major breakthroughs in Comer 2005), and mobbing behaviors (Ertureten et al.
problem-solving or the creation of new products (Baer 2012; 2013) have received a great deal of recent attention from
Zhou and George 2001). Given the increasingly dynamic organizational scholars exploring the ways in which man-
global marketplace, fostering creative performance is agers impact the performance and well-being of their fol-
increasingly being seen as essential for organizational sur- lowers (LaVan and Martin 2008; Schyns and Schilling
vival and growth (Amabile et al. 2004). One key factor in 2013). In particular, abusive supervision has been the focus
fostering creative performance is whether leaders provide a of much attention by organizational scholars (see Tepper
safe context for employees to explore or even to fail as they 2007). Abusive supervision is defined as ‘‘subordinates’
attempt to be creative and implement new ideas (Mumford perception of the extent to which supervisors engage in the
and Licuanan 2004). In fact, a recent study of CEOs by IBM sustained display of hostile verbal and nonverbal behav-
(IBM Report 2010) identified creativity as the most impor- iors, excluding physical contact’’ (Tepper 2000, p. 178).
tant leadership requirement in the increasingly complex Thus, abusive supervision is characterized by three ele-
modern economy. That said, the vast majority of leadership ments: an employee’s subjective evaluation of his/her
research has examined the ways in which positive forms of supervisor’s behavior; the continued demonstration of
leadership such as transformational leadership can enhance hostility; and that the behavior is deliberate.
creativity (e.g., Rosing et al. 2011). Very little research has Much of the current research on abusive supervision has
explored the consequences of destructive leadership styles as utilized reactance theory or social exchange theory to
an antecedent of decreased employee creativity (see Lee explain the connection between abusive supervision and
et al. 2013 and Liu et al. 2012 for exceptions). Moreover, employee outcomes (Mitchell and Ambrose 2007). Reac-
although much of the abusive supervision literature explores tance theory posits that individuals possess a strong need to
the potential moderators of the relationship between abusive maintain a sense of control (Brehm and Brehm 1981).
supervision and employee outcomes, there has been little When that sense of control is threatened, research has
attention paid to the psychological processes that are suggested that individuals strive to respond directly or
responsible for this relationship. indirectly against the source of frustration to bring back
Based on affective events theory (Weiss and Cropan- personal control (Ashford 1997; Zellars et al. 2002). Owing
zano 1996), self-regulation theory (Baumeister et al. 1994), to asymmetries in the power relationship, it may be unli-
and conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989), we kely that they engage in direct resistance or conflict with
believe that sleep deprivation and emotional exhaustion their supervisor (Mitchell and Ambrose 2007). Instead,
represent two potential mediators of the abusive supervi- employees in such an environment may engage in covert
sion–creativity relationship. Specifically, we believe that deviance behaviors or withhold positive actions that could
the stress from the ongoing threat created by an abusive benefit others (Avey et al. 2015; Shapira-Lishchinsky and
work relationship can come to exhaust social and psycho- Rosenblatt 2009; Sims 2010).
logical resources (Halbesleben et al. 2014; Meier et al. Similarly, social exchange theory (Blau 1964; Thibuat
2012). This, in turn, limits the resources able to be used to and Kelley 1959) posits that employees reciprocate posi-
engage in exploratory behaviors such as creative activity. tive treatment with positive behaviors and negative treat-
Taken as a whole, the present study makes several ment with negative behaviors. Consequently, they may
contributions to the existing literature on abusive supervi- attempt to ‘‘balance’’ the equation in their relationship with
sion. First, it adds to the nascent literature examining the an abusive supervisor by underperforming or engaging in
effects of abusive supervision on creative performance. overt or, more likely, covert acts of workplace deviance.
Second, it explores two new potential mediators of abusive Meta-analytic evidence bears this out. Perceptions of
supervision, sleep deprivation and emotional exhaustion, abusive supervision or closely related destructive leader-
on workplace outcomes. And finally, it utilizes conserva- ship behaviors are associated with both less positive
tion of resources theory as a framework for understanding behaviors such as task performance and citizenship
negative work outcomes in the face of abusive supervision. behaviors among employees, but also increased levels of
workplace deviance (Boddy 2014; Mackey et al. 2015).
That said, the mechanism through which this takes place
Theoretical Background and Hypotheses is not well-understood. The current literature has mostly
examined situational and personality moderators that could
Abusive Supervision and Employee Creativity act to mitigate or aggravate the relationship between abu-
sive supervision and employee outcomes (see Martinko
As noted above, dark or destructive leadership, as exem- et al. 2013; Tepper 2007). In terms of potential mediators
plified by abusive supervision (Tepper 2000), supervisor that would help to understand the psychological

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Nightmare Bosses: The Impact of Abusive Supervision on Employees’ Sleep, Emotions… 23

underpinnings of reactions to abusive supervision, most terms of poor mental and physical health, diminished well-
literature points to injustice perceptions and anger reactions being, lowered performance, and increased accidents
(Martinko et al. 2013; Tepper 2007). These more proximal (Baranski et al. 1998; Barnes et al. 2011; Caruso et al.
outcomes make sense in the context of reactance and social 2004; Christian and Ellis 2011; Kessler et al. 2011; Salo
exchange theory. That is, in the face of abuse, at least some et al. 2010; Scott and Judge 2006; Wagner et al. 2012).
employees will attempt to ‘‘fight back’’ against threats to Recent meta-analytic evidence also supports the link
the self or try to restore justice (Vogel and Mitchell 2015; between sleep quality and quantity with both health and
Wang et al. 2014). Curiously, an alternative explanation for performance outcomes (Litwiller 2014). In 2012 alone, the
lower performance, conservation of resources (Halbesleben estimated cost of sleep deprivation to U.S. businesses was
et al. 2014; Hobfoll 1989), is rarely explored in the abusive approximately $63.2 billion in lost production (Weber
supervision literature. Specifically, those employees are 2013).
shutting down and reducing activity in the face of an In terms of the effects of abusive supervision on sleep
ongoing threat or stressor because their social and psy- deprivation, there is no prior research to call upon. There is
chological resources are exhausted. evidence that constructive leadership behaviors can foster
This lack of resources can be an important hindrance higher-level sleep quality (Munir and Nielsen 2009) and
of the creative process. As many scholars have noted, to that negative stressors in the workplace can result in fatigue
move beyond simply having creative ideas, an individual (Eriksen 2006) and insomnia (Wagner et al. 2014).
must be able to secure both material and social resources Affective events theory (Weiss and Cropanzano 1996)
(West and Farr 1990; Yuan and Woodman 2010). Having suggests that events in the workplace can lead to affective
an abusive supervisor is likely to signal that the employee reactions and that those reactions, in turn, influence
does not have sufficient standing to engage in exploratory behavior. Further, self-regulation theory (Baumeister et al.
behaviors and will not be provided with material resour- 1994; Muraven and Baumeister 2000) suggests that
ces or support even if they have a novel idea (Gu et al. although individuals have a comparatively stable self-reg-
2015; Lee et al. 2013). Abusive supervision could also be ulatory capacity, this capacity can become exhausted when
considered a particularly toxic form of relationship con- overly taxed and resources are scarce (DeWall et al. 2007).
flict, which prior research has found to be detrimental to This will ultimately influence how an individual acts or
the creative process (Bai et al. in press). Finally, Amabile responds to stress (Baumeister et al. 1994; Christian and
(1998) has argued that the three most crucial components Ellis 2011; Muraven and Baumeister 2000). These theories
of creativity are expertise, critical thinking, and motiva- seem to suggest that if an individual is troubled at work by
tion. Although expertise is not impacted by the experience an abusive supervisor and this, in turn, results in less sleep
of abuse, it is likely that the creative process will be or less restful sleep, it could be expected that this will
negatively impacted by abusive supervision as motivation decrease the cognitive resources necessary to engage in
is sapped and critical reasoning is inhibited as a result of creative performance in the workplace.
the resource depletion associated with the increased More precisely, it could be expected that if fitful sleep
cognitive load of the stressful situation. Consequently, we resulted from highly negative experiences at work (like
hypothesize that: having an abusive supervisor), then one of the resources that
may become depleted would be one’s ability to engage in
H1 Abusive supervisor is negatively related with an
critical thinking. As noted above, critical thinking is one of
employee’s creativity.
the three major components necessary for creative perfor-
mance (Amabile 1998). Studies have provided support that
The Mediating Role of Sleep Deprivation Between
sleep can increase creativity because sleep promotes
Abusive Supervision and Employee Creativity
explicit knowledge and bolsters insightful behavior (Wag-
ner et al. 2004; see also Simone et al. 2012; Walker et al.
Despite the fact that sleep is critical to human functioning
2002). On the other hand, sleep deprivation weakens cog-
(Coren 1996; Siegel 2005) and takes up a huge percentage
nitive performance as reflected in decreased alertness,
of our daily lives, it has generally been neglected by
attention, and vigilance (Alhola and Polo-Kantola 2007). In
organizational researchers (Barnes 2012). Although it is
addition, there is some evidence that sleep loss impairs the
widely accepted that sleep deprivation is common across
ability to engage in divergent thinking (Horne 1988).
the globe (Groeger et al. 2004; Park et al. 2010), organi-
Consequently, we hypothesize that:
zational researchers have only recently become interested
in the already expansive medical literature documenting H2 Sleep deprivation will mediate the relationship
the serious negative consequences of sleep deprivation in between abusive supervision and employee creativity.

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24 G. H. Han et al.

The Mediating Role of Emotional Exhaustion motivation. Further, the resource depletion associated with
Between Abusive Supervision and Employee exhaustion should also impact another crucial factor: the
Creativity ability to engage in critical reasoning. Therefore, it is
reasonable to predict that there is a negative association
Emotional exhaustion refers to the feeling of energy between employee’s emotional exhaustion and employee
depletion that results from extreme psychological demands creativity. Thus, we hypothesize that:
(Singh et al. 1994; Wright and Cropanzano 1998). It has
H3 Emotional exhaustion mediates the relationship
been argued that emotional exhaustion is the most impor-
between abusive supervision and employee creativity.
tant component of burnout and stress (Cropanzano et al.
2003). As noted earlier, conservation of resources (COR) Finally, although a causal direction cannot be argued,
theory (Hobfoll 1989) may help to explain the impact of we anticipate finding a positive relationship between rat-
abusive supervision on employee’s emotional exhaustion. ings of emotional exhaustion and sleep deprivation. The
According to COR theory, individuals are driven to secure quality and quantity of sleep experienced has been widely
and maintain resources that assist them in accomplishing demonstrated to be positively related to both physical
their goals. These resources may include ‘‘objects, personal health and well-being (Coren 1996). On the other hand, it is
characteristics, conditions, or energies that are valued by reasonable to expect that individuals experiencing the acute
the individual or that serve as a means for attainment of distress associated with burnout would have higher levels
these objects’’ (Hobfoll 1989, p. 516). When facing a loss of fatigue owing to their inability to relax and attain restful
of resources, they are likely to experience distress (Hal- sleep. Thus, it is likely that the causal direction runs both
besleben and Buckley 2004; Hobfoll 2001). A significant ways.
amount of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) research has
H4 There is a positive relationship between sleep depri-
indicated that supervisory support may be seen as an
vation and emotional exhaustion.
important resource for employees (see Gerstner and Day
1997 for a review; Brewer and Shapard 2004). When
supervisors provide emotional support, employees are less
likely to feel anxiety or burnout (Cropanzano et al. 1997). Method
On the other hand, if employees do not have a nurturing
relationship with the supervisors, and fail to get any sup- Sample and Procedure
port from the supervisors when needed, they are likely to
experience stress. Meta-analytic evidence strongly supports The participants for this study came from three high-tech
this assertion (Halbesleben, 2006). This effect can be manufacturing companies in eastern China. Although
expected to be magnified if the supervisor is actively employees in almost any occupation have the ability to
causing the stress through personal attacks. Thus, it is demonstrate creativity in some way (Mumford et al. 1997;
reasonable to expect that there will be a positive relation- Reiter-Palmon and Illies 2004), for many employees in high-
ship between abusive supervision and employee’s feelings tech firms, the creative processes surrounding the develop-
of emotional exhaustion. Once again, the existing empirical ment of innovative products can be considered their core job
evidence lends support for this assertion (Giacalone and function. Beyond product innovation, employees may also
Promislo 2010; Wheeler et al. 2013; Whitman et al. 2014). be asked to make suggestions for improving the manufac-
Moreover, as emotional exhaustion represents a fairly turing process in order to improve efficiency or the quality of
direct assessment of feelings of resource depletion, we products. Team members typically work closely with their
would expect it be associated with a diminished capacity to leaders in order to improve communication, understand job
perform well. For example, meta-analytic evidence sug- requirements, make updates concerning the progress of their
gests that emotional exhaustion is associated with both work, and to obtain necessary resources and helpful sug-
impaired psychical and mental health outcomes (Cole et al. gestions from leaders. Consequently, the interaction
2012), poor job performance (Cropanzano et al. 2003; Sun between team leaders and team members can have a sub-
and Pan 2008), and more incidents of organizational stantial influence on the creative process. Because of this, we
deviance behavior (Mulki et al. 2006). Further, it has been believe that the present setting is appropriate for the study of
argued that there is substantial construct overlap between our proposed model.
aspects of burnout (which includes emotional exhaustion) Across the three firms, there were 283 employees in
and employee engagement (Cole et al. 2012). Conse- total from 43 work teams (typically 5 and 8 members in
quently, we would expect that high levels of emotional each team). Consent forms were distributed that informed
exhaustion would be reflective of an impairment of one of workers both that their CEOs supported the survey and that
Amabile’s (1998) three crucial components of creativity: their responses would be kept confidential. In order to

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Nightmare Bosses: The Impact of Abusive Supervision on Employees’ Sleep, Emotions… 25

reduce the threat that the current findings might be con- Employee Creativity
taminated by common-source effects, ratings of employee
creativity were collected from team leaders while ratings of The 4-item scale developed by Farmer et al. (2003) was
abusive supervision, sleep deprivation, and emotional used to assess employee creativity. A sample item was
exhaustion were collected from the employees. Employee ‘‘This employee tries new ideas or methods first.’’ The
ID numbers were used to match employees to their team reliability for employee creativity was 0.87.
leaders.
After excluding incomplete and unmatched question- Data Analysis
naires, the final sample for the study was 222 employees
from 43 teams (with average team size of 5.16 and overall Because of the multilevel nature of our hypotheses, we
response rate 77.4 %). The overall average age of the collected data and analyzed our data with followers nested
employee sample was 32.24 years (SD = 8.05) with an under team leaders. Specifically, abusive supervision was a
average job tenure of 4.49 years (SD = 4.67). The team-level variable while employee sleep deprivation,
majority of the employees were male (70.3 %). The aver- emotional exhaustion, and creativity were individual-level
age age of the leaders was 36.91 years (SD = 10.46) with variables. In order to justify aggregating individual ratings
an average job tenure of 9.95 years (SD = 10.09). Most of abusive supervision, we computed the rwg and ICCs
team leaders were male (76.7 %). values for abusive supervision (Bliese 2000; James et al.
1993).The results (rwg = 0.80 [ benchmark of 0.70;
Measures ICC(1) = 0.57, ICC(2) = 0.87) justified aggregation to the
team level. Because each of the variables contained mul-
A standard back translation process was adopted to ensure tiple items, we used multilevel structural equation model-
the accuracy of the questionnaire translation: a native ing (M-SEM) with Eqs. 6.1 (Benlter and Wu 2005) for
speaker translated all of the materials from English to analyzing the models of interest. This technique has a
Chinese, and then another native speaker translated them number of advantages in that it takes into account (1) the
back to English to ensure that the measures were clear and cross-level data structure; (2) control for the team effects;
consistent. All scales were rated on a seven-point scale (3) the information richness of the multiple-item variables;
(1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree). (4) the correlation between the two mediator variables in
Hypothesis 4, and (5) tests all the hypotheses in a single
Abusive Supervision step (Preacher et al. 2011; 2010). After assessing the
baseline measurement model of our measures, we assessed
The 10-item short version of the abusive supervision scale potential alternative measurement models to validate our
adopted from Aryee et al. (2007) was used to measure measures and then conducted the structural model to test
leader’s abusive treatment to employees. A sample item the hypotheses.
was ‘‘my supervisor makes negative comments about me to
others.’’ The reliability for abusive supervision was 0.89.
Results
Sleep Deprivation
Analyses of Measurement Model
A 4-item sleep deprivation scale was adopted from prior
Table 1 presents the results of the multilevel-CFA with all
work (Jenkins et al. 1996; Jenkins et al. 1988). A sample
variables included. The fit statistics indicated that the
item was ‘‘I had trouble falling asleep.’’ The larger scores
baseline model with the four factors (abusive supervision,
of ratings on the seven-point scale represented the worse
sleep deprivation, emotional exhaustion, and creativity) fits
sleep quality the employee had. The reliability for sleep
well (v2 = 746.12, df = 492, v2/df \ 2; RMSEA = 0.05;
deprivation was 0.80.
CFI = 0.96, IFI = 0.96). In addition, all of the items loa-
ded significantly onto their respective factors. Further,
Emotional Exhaustion several competing CFA models were tested for discrimi-
nant validity of the measures. As shown in Table 1, all
We used a 6-item version of the emotional exhaustion alternative rival models (RM1-6 combined each two vari-
subscale of Maslach and Jackson’s (1981) burnout scale to ables into one factor; RM7 was the null model) showed
measure emotional exhaustion. A sample item was ‘‘I feel poorer fit than our baseline model, indicating that the four
burned out from my work.’’ The reliability for emotional factors were distinct constructs. A summary of the
exhaustion was 0.88. descriptive statistics and correlations among variables is

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26 G. H. Han et al.

Table 1 Results of the multilevel confirmatory factor analyses

Model Factors v2 df Dv2 RMSEA CFI IFI

Baseline Model Abusive supervision, sleep deprivation, emotional 746.12 492 0.05 0.96 0.96
(4-factor model) exhaustion, and creativity
Rival Model 1 Combine abusive supervision and sleep deprivation 976.08 498 229.96(6)* 0.07 0.89 0.89
Rival Model 2 Combine abusive supervision and emotional exhaustion 1073.75 498 327.63(6)* 0.07 0.85 0.85
Rival Model 3 Combine abusive supervision and creativity 1166.93 498 420.81(6)* 0.08 0.83 0.83
Rival Model 4 Combine sleep deprivation and emotional exhaustion 928.26 498 182.14(6)* 0.06 0.90 0.90
Rival Model 5 Combine sleep deprivation and creativity 1002.21 498 256.09(6)* 0.07 0.88 0.88
Rival Model 6 Combine emotional exhaustion and creativity 1085.88 498 339.76(6)* 0.07 0.84 0.84
Rival Model 7 One factor 1610.72 504 864.60(12)* 0.10 0.66 0.66
a
NLevel-1 = 222, NLevel-2 = 43
* p \ 0.05

Table 2 Means, standard

Variable Mean SD 1 2 3 4
deviations, and correlations of
the variables 1 Abusive supervision 3.30 1.06 (0.89)
2 Sleep deprivation 3.27 1.32 0.25* (0.80)
3 Emotional 3.62 1.39 0.33* 0.45* (0.88)
exhaustion
4 Creativity 4.36 1.32 0.05 -0.17* -0.24* (0.87)
Numbers in parentheses on the diagonal are reliabilities of the scales
* p \ 0.05

presented in Table 2. The correlations were in the expected creativity was not significant (b = -0.05, p [ 0.05). Thus,
direction that abusive supervision was positively related to Hypothesis 1 was not supported. Hypothesis 2 predicted
sleep deprivation (r = 0.25, p \ 0.05) and emotional that sleep deprivation would mediate the relationship
exhaustion (r = -0.33, p \ 0.05); creativity was nega- between abusive supervision and creativity. In Fig. 1, we
tively related to sleep deprivation (r = -0.17, p \ 0.05) found that although abusive supervision was positively
and emotional exhaustion (r = -0.24, p \ 0.05), while related to sleep deprivation (b = 0.35, p \ 0.05), sleep
abusive supervision was not significantly related to cre- deprivation was not significantly related to employee cre-
ativity (r = 0.05, p [ 0.1). ativity (b = -0.17, p [ 0.05). Consequently, sleep depri-
vation could not mediate the relationship except through its
Hypotheses Testing relationship with emotional exhaustion. Therefore,
Hypothesis 2 was not supported. Hypothesis 3 predicted
Hypothesis 1 predicted a direct link between abusive that emotional exhaustion would mediate the relationship
supervision and employee creativity, while Hypotheses 2 & between abusive supervision and creativity. As shown in
3 predicted the mediating roles of sleep deprivation and Fig. 1, abusive supervision was positively related to emo-
emotional exhaustion between abusive supervision and tional exhaustion (b = 0.32, p \ 0.05) and emotional
employee creativity. Moreover, Hypothesis 4 predicted a exhaustion was negatively related to creativity
positive correlation between the two mediators. Together, (b = -0.21, p \ 0.05). Kelloway’s (1998) SEM mediation
the four hypotheses proposed a partial mediation SEM test method was adopted to test emotional exhaustion’s
model (Fig. 1). Using multilevel SEM, the partial media- mediating role. Kelloway (1998) suggested comparing the
tion model yielded a good model fit (v2 = 744.67, mediation model with the non-mediation model and that
df = 492, v2/df \ 2; RMSEA = 0.05; CFI = 0.96, the mediation should be considered supported if the
IFI = 0.96). We will discuss the specific results for each mediation model fitted better than the non-mediation
hypothesis in turn below. model. As shown in Table 3, the non-mediation model had
Hypothesis 1 predicted that abusive supervision would a significantly larger Chi square than our hypothesized
be negatively related to employee creativity. As shown in mediation model (Dv2(6) = 46.24, p \ 0.01). This sug-
Fig. 1, the direct effect of abusive supervision on employee gests a worse model fit of the non-mediation model

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Nightmare Bosses: The Impact of Abusive Supervision on Employees’ Sleep, Emotions… 27

0.05 Specifically, on the basis of affective events theory, self-

regulation theory, and conservation of resources theory,
Sleep that abusive supervisors would create such a hostile work
Deprivation -0.17
0.35* environment that they would deplete the emotional and
Leader Employee social resources of their employees. Further, that this
Abusive 0.33*
Supervision Creativity
resource depletion would manifest itself in employee
0.32* -0.21*
Emotional reports of sleep deprivation and emotional exhaustion and
Exhaustion
that these, in turn, would be associated with lower levels of
Fig. 1 Results of hypothesized mediation model. Dashed lines
creative performance.
represent non-significant relationship. NLevel-1 = 222, NLevel-2 = 43. Although the zero-order relationship between percep-
*p \ 0.05 tions of abusive supervision and creativity was non-sig-
nificant, we did find evidence of significant positive
(Anderson and Gerbing 1988; Bai et al. in press). This relationships between abusive supervision and emotional
suggested support for the mediating role of emotional exhaustion. Moreover, we also found evidence of a sig-
exhaustion and, consequently, support for Hypothesis 3. nificant indirect relationship between abusive supervision
Further, emotional exhaustion is considered a full mediator and creative performance through these mediators. Thus,
since there was not a direct link from abusive supervision the present study is consistent with the limited evidence
to creativity. linking abusive supervision to creativity (Lee et al. 2013;
Hypothesis 4 predicted that sleep deprivation and Liu et al. 2012), but it was the first to demonstrate the
emotional exhaustion would correlate with each other, i.e., process by which these effects occur. It should also be
co-occur. In support of this hypothesis, the relationship noted that although we only found small effects, this too
between sleep deprivation and emotional exhaustion was was consistent with the prior studies (Lee et al. 2013; Liu
significant in Fig. 1 (r = 0.33, p \ 0.05). A further SEM et al. 2012). Given that other work (Schyns and Schilling
analysis was conducted on a model with this relationship 2013) has demonstrated that destructive leadership typi-
(i.e., the non-correlation model in Table 3). This non-cor- cally has similar, though opposite, effects to that of con-
relation model also yielded a worse model fit than the structive leadership, this small effect for abusive
hypothesized mediation model with a significantly larger supervision was unexpected. Based on our current study
Chi square (Dv2(2) = 28.01, p \ 0.01), suggesting reten- and the existing studies to date, it is unclear if these find-
tion of the relationship between the two proposed mediator ings are reflective of the true relationship between
variables. Consequently, Hypothesis 4 was supported. destructive leadership and employee creativity or if it is
biased owing to methodological problems. For example,
abusive supervision is, thankfully, a rare occurrence
(Martinko et al. 2013). Even in his initial scale validation
Discussion paper, Tepper (2000) found very low endorsement rates for
the behaviors assessed with the abusive supervision scale.
Drawing upon a number of theoretical perspectives, the The built-in restriction of range for responses on this
current study aimed to expand existing models of abusive instrument is an ongoing problem in the study of abusive
supervision in order to gain a better understanding of the supervision and can only be dealt with by developing a new
process by which destructive leadership, and abusive scale with more attention paid to the psychometric prop-
supervision in particular, may impact employee outcomes. erties of the instrument.

Table 3 Results of the multilevel structural model analyses

Model Factors v2 df Dv2 RMSEA CFI IFI

Hypothesized Mediation Abusive supervision ? sleep deprivation & emotional 744.67 492 0.05 0.96 0.96
Model exhaustion ? creativity ? Abusive supervision ?
creativity
Non-mediation Model Abusive supervision ? sleep deprivation, emotional 790.91 498 46.24(6)* 0.05 0.95 0.95
exhaustion, and creativity
Non-correlation Model Hypothesized mediation model without the correlation 772.68 494 28.01(2)* 0.05 0.96 0.96
between sleep deprivation and emotional exhaustion
a
NLevel-1 = 222, NLevel-2 = 43
* p \ 0.05

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28 G. H. Han et al.

Another issue with the current study was that causal behaviorally shut down when outmatched (Henriques
direction between abusive supervision, emotional exhaus- 2000). This would be consistent with conservation of
tion, and sleep deprivation could not be fully determined. resources theory. Thus, it would seem that moving for-
Although the statistical models tested suggested that our ward researchers could being to explore the circumstances
proposed model was the most appropriate for the data, it is under which each model can best explain behavior. That
likely that each of these three variables in some way is, that there need not be a single theory explain reactions
influences the others. That is, in addition to our hypothesis to abusive supervision.
that abusive supervision leads to emotional exhaustion and Beyond the overarching theoretical concerns, another
sleep deprivation, there is also likely to be some effect in important theoretical contribution of the current study was
the other direction. Because abusive supervision is mea- the introduction of two mediators of abusive supervision.
sured via the perceptions of individuals, it is likely to be These mediators can now be tested alongside feelings of
influenced by the emotional and physical state of the raters. injustice and anger reactions in order to establish the
For example, prior research has demonstrated that underlying rationale for why individuals act the way they
depressed individuals are more likely to project disagree- do rather than to simply document the frequency with
ableness onto other individuals that they rate (Wood et al. which they do them. In other words, it presents the
2010). Consequently, we could anticipate that exhausted opportunity for developing a functionalist understanding of
individuals would be more likely to perceive their super- reactions to abusive supervision (see Harms et al. 2014;
visors as being hostile. Wood et al. 2015).
Despite these issues, the present study represents a solid In practical terms, this study will hopefully add to the
first step towards understanding the psychological pro- existing literature demonstrating the importance of sleep
cesses that operate in the minds of employees who feel that and well-being for employee performance. Many employ-
they have been abused by their supervisors. Future research ees and employers continue to try to deny the basic
is needed to build on the current findings to see whether necessity of sleep, pushing themselves constantly to
they generalize to other employee outcomes. squeeze extra productivity out of the day (Barnes 2011).
Beyond the effects of abusive supervision, this study
clearly demonstrates the importance of sleep for perfor-
Theoretical and Practical Implications
mance and well-being, and for creative performance in
particular. Hopefully, it will prompt organizations to
A notable theoretical contribution of the current study was
encourage healthier lifestyles and to monitor supervisors to
to eschew reactance theory and social exchange theory
ensure that not only are they not engaged in abuse, but that
and to instead investigate abusive supervision through the
they are not adding stress to the lives of workers and, in
lens of conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll 1989)
doing so, diminishing their health and their performance.
along with affective events theory (Weiss and Cropanzano
1996) and self-regulation theory (Baumeister et al. 1994).
Together, these theories suggest that abusive supervision
Conclusions
does not need to be considered an opportunity for con-
frontation, revenge, or the restoration of justice. Instead, it
This study aimed to examine the process by which abusive
may just be that some people resign themselves to their
supervision could impact employee creativity. In doing so,
situation and their energy, their well-being, and their
we established sleep deprivation and emotional exhaustion
performance suffers as a result. Even among the ‘‘fight-
as two potential mediators for this effect. Further, our study
ers,’’ it is likely that some experience exhaustion or
demonstrated the utility of conservation of resources theory
sleepless nights as a result of conflict with their nightmare
along with affective events theory and self-regulation the-
bosses. This leads to an important suggestion for future
ory for understanding the reactions of employees to abu-
research. It is already well-established that followers
sive supervision. We believe that the current results not
differ in terms of their reactions to abusive supervision
only once again demonstrate the importance of good lea-
based on their personality characteristics (Harvey et al.
der–follower relationships, but also provide a number of
2007; Martinko et al. 2013; Wang et al. 2014; Zhang and
paths forward for both empirical research and theory
Bednall 2015). It may be then that the different theoret-
development.
ical approaches for understanding the effects of abusive
supervision may be reflective of individual coping Acknowledgments This study is funded by grants from the
strategies in response to stress. For example, even though National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71302073, No.
exhaustion may seem to be a maladaptive response to 71172047), and Research Fund for the Young teacher of Fujian
abuse, it may reflect an adaptive evolutionary instinct to Province (No. JA13009S).

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Nightmare Bosses: The Impact of Abusive Supervision on Employees’ Sleep, Emotions… 29

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