Recently, the paper “The Short-Lived Benefits of Abusive Supervisory Behavior for Actors: An Investigation of Recovery and Work Engagement” of BNUBS’ Young Teacher Ju Dong (co-corresponding-author) was Published in the Academy of Management Journal (AMJ), the international authoritative journal of management, and the internationally recognized top management journal. As one of the 24 internationally recognized authoritative journals of economic management listed by  UT/DALLAS, it is known for its strict academic requirements and the highest level of editing. 

For the first time, the study finds out that the abusive management behavior has an immediate positive impact on the leaders, which provides an important basis for understanding the reasons why abusive management behaviors are widespread in organizations. The researchers include Qin Xin, associate professor from Business School of Sun Yat-Sen University, Huang Mingpeng, associate professor from the International Business School of the University of International Business and Economics, Russell E. Johnson, associate Professor from Eli Broad Business School of Michigan State University, and Dr. Hu Qiongjing from Guanghua School of Management (GSM), Peking University (PKU).

Abstract of the paper: In the past few decades, management scholars have shown great research interest in the destructive behavior of leaders. As a common destructive behavior, abusive supervision refers to the language or non-verbal hostility from leaders to  subordinates, but does not include physical contact. Although empirical evidence has accumulated showing that abusive supervision has devastating effects on subordinates’ work attitudes and outcomes, knowledge about how such behavior impacts supervisors who exhibit it is limited. Drawing upon conservation of resources theory, we develop and test a model that specifies how and when engaging in abusive supervisory behavior has immediate benefits for supervisors. Via two experiments and a multi-wave diary study across 10 consecutive workdays, we found that engaging in abusive supervisory behavior was associated with improved recovery level. Moreover, abusive supervisory behavior had a positive indirect effect on work engagement through recovery level. Interestingly, supplemental analyses suggested that these beneficial effects were short-lived because, over longer periods of time (i.e., one week and beyond), abusive supervisory behavior were negatively related to supervisors’ recovery level and engagement. The strength of these short-lived beneficial effects was also bound by personal and contextual factors. Empathic concern––a personal factor––and job demands––a contextual factor–– moderated the observed effects. Specifically, supervisors with high empathic concern or low job demands experienced fewer benefits after engaging in abusive supervisory behavior.

Introduction of Ju Dong:

Ju Dong, lecturer of Department of Human Resource Management of BNUBS; Ph.D. of GSM, PKU; Master of Business, University of Leeds, UK. Her research area includes organizational behavior and human resource management, and currently she studies leadership, ethical behavior, employee turnover, and etc. She has published academic papers in top journals such as the Academy of Management Journal , Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology , Asia Pacific Journal of Management , Management World , and Acta Psychologica Sinica. She hosts the National Natural Science Foundation Youth Fund and has successively won many awards, including national scholarship, outstanding graduate of PKU, merit student of GSM of PKU, and the best organizational behavior thesis proposal of Shanghai workshop of International Association for Chinese Management Research (IACMR) .