Abusive supervision and nurses' deviant behaviors: the moderating effect of self-efficacy.

Abstract

Background: Nurses play a critical role in care processes that involve patient monitoring and coordination and any failure in these processes or deviation from safety standards may result in serious consequences for patients and ultimately for the entire system. Nevertheless, research examining nurses' deviant behaviors in terms of their antecedents is inadequate. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine abusive supervision as an antecedent of deviant behavior in nurses and the role of nurses' self-efficacy in this effect.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2024 across 252 nurses who work in education and research hospitals affiliated with Health Sciences University (Türkiye). In the study, data were collected including perceptions of the nurses regarding the abusive behaviors of their superiors, their own deviant behaviors, and their thoughts regarding their self-efficacy levels. The PROCESS macro (model 1) was used to analyze the moderation model of the study.

Results: Abusive supervision was found to increase interpersonal deviant behavior among nurses, as predicted. From the perspective of social exchange theory (SET), this result can be interpreted as the nurses responding to the abusive managers by disrupting their interpersonal relationships. Another finding of the current study is that self-efficacy can serve as a mitigating factor in the destructive effects that an abusive supervisor can have on her subordinates. In other words, nurses with high self-efficacy are less affected by their abusive supervisors and demonstrate lower levels of interpersonal deviance.

Conclusions: Nurses who experience abusive behaviors from their managers are likely to respond with interpersonal deviant behaviors, such as being disruptive or uncooperative with colleagues. Moreover, nurses with high self-efficacy are less affected by abusive leadership and are less likely to engage in deviant behaviors. Future research could explore why nurses refrain from responding to abusive managers with organizational deviance. Investigating whether this is due to professional ethics, fear of consequences, or social learning could yield valuable insights.