Existing research assumes that supervisors invariably feel bad after engaging in abusive behaviors. We challenge this assumption by proposing that supervisors’ motives of abusive supervision shape their post-abuse experiences. Drawing on the social interactionist theory of aggression and theories of self-regulation, we suggest that instrumental (or goal-driven) abusive behaviors provide a temporary sense of fulfillment, whereas spontaneous (or reactive, emotionally-driven) abusive behaviors diminish need satisfaction and foster negative outcomes. Using an exploratory study and an event-contingent experiencing sampling study, we found that supervisors may justify their abuse with effecting compliance motives when subordinates perform poorly, which fulfills task achievement needs and increases next-day work engagement. Similarly, supervisors may also justify their abuse with identity maintenance motives when subordinates are disrespectful, thus enhancing social identity needs and next-day organizational-based self-esteem. We also found that when supervisors justify their abusive behaviors with spontaneous motives (i.e., depletion and negative affect), it has negative implications for need satisfaction and outcomes. Lastly, we highlight supervisor’s psychological power as a boundary condition of these effects. All told, our findings indicate that, at the within-person level, supervisors’ daily motives for abusive behaviors matter, given that certain motives actually yield short-term benefits for supervisors.

中文翻译：

---

短期满足感：主管虐待行为的动机如何影响需求满意度和日常结果


现有研究假设主管在从事虐待行为后总是会感到难过。我们挑战这一假设，提出主管滥用监督的动机塑造了他们的虐待后经历。借鉴社会互动主义攻击理论和自我调节理论，我们建议工具性（或目标驱动）虐待行为提供暂时的满足感，而自发（或反应性、情绪驱动）虐待行为会降低需求满足并促进负面结果。使用探索性研究和事件或有体验抽样研究，我们发现，当下属表现不佳时，主管可能会通过影响合规动机来为他们的滥用行为辩护，这满足了任务完成需求并增加了第二天的工作参与度。同样，当下属不尊重时，主管也可能以身份维护动机为他们的虐待行为辩护，从而增强社会身份需求和第二天基于组织的自尊。我们还发现，当主管用自发的动机（即消耗和负面影响）来证明他们的虐待行为时，它会对需求满足和结果产生负面影响。最后，我们强调主管的心理力量是这些影响的边界条件。总而言之，我们的研究结果表明，在人际层面，主管滥用行为的日常动机很重要，因为某些动机实际上会给主管带来短期利益。