Leverage self- and other-compassion to prevent the abuse trickle-down

Abstract

Although previous research has shown that abuse can trickle down from managers to supervisors, it remains unclear why many abused supervisors do not perpetuate the abuse of their subordinates. To address this issue, drawing upon frustration-aggression and self-regulation theory, the current research investigated the underlying mechanism of frustration and the mitigative effects of self- and other-compassion in the manager abuse—supervisor frustration—supervisor abuse circle. Across two field studies (a time-lagged survey study, N = 381, and an experience sampling study, N = 66, with 593 daily observations), we find support for our arguments at both between- and within-person levels. Our findings support that there is a positive indirect relationship between manager abuse and supervisor abuse via supervisor frustration and that the indirect effect is weaker among supervisors who possess higher levels of self- and other-compassion. We discuss the implications for theory and human resource practice.