Abusive Supervision as a Social Phenomenon: Causes and Coping Strategies

The paper analyzes the phenomenon of abusive supervision (AS) in Russian organizations. The study is based on semi-structured in-depth interviews and a standardized survey of employees. The analysis demonstrates that half of the respondents had encountered various manifestations of AS at their current or previous jobs. The imbalance of power relations at workplace, employee’s socio-economic dependence on a supervisor are the core conditions of AS. Factor analysis results reveal 4 behavioral strategies of employees faced with AS – “neglect”, “exit”, “balance of power” and “loyalty”. A most effective strategy to reduce the manifestations of AS, according to respondents, was the “balance of power” strategy involving employees’ individual value enhancement and coalition formation.