Does high employee performance trigger abusive supervision? Evidence from hotel businesses

Abstract

Drawing on the social comparison and moral exclusion perspectives and the social interactionist theory of aggression, this study investigates how employee performance affects abusive supervision through supervisor envy and perceived threat to hierarchy. Data were collected from employees in four- and five-star hotels in various provinces of T & uuml;rkiye. The research hypotheses were tested by using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling. The findings show that high employee performance significantly increases supervisor envy and threat to hierarchy. In turn, supervisor envy and threat to hierarchy significantly increase abusive supervision. Finally, supervisor envy and threat to hierarchy also mediate the impact of employee performance on abusive supervision. Given the lack of previous evidence on these paradoxical outcomes of high employee performance, the present study contributes to the business ethics and hospitality literatures.