Does abusive supervision lead to employee time theft? Managing workplace stressors through co-workers’ support

Purpose This study aims to examine the impact of leaders’ abusive supervision on employees’ time theft. The study further examined the interactive effect of leaders’ abusive supervision and perceived co-worker support on employee time theft, mediated by emotional exhaustion and moral disengagement. Design/methodology/approach The author employs a multi-wave data collection method, consisting of three waves with one-month intervals. The author received 635 samples, conducted a confirmatory factor analysis using AMOS to test validity and employed SPSS for multiple regressions to examine both direct and moderating effects. Additionally, the author used the bootstrapping method to test mediating effects. Findings The author identified the following findings: first, abusive supervision was positively correlated with emotional exhaustion and moral disengagement; second, emotional exhaustion and moral disengagement played mediating roles between abusive supervision and employee time theft and third, perceived co-worker support was positively moderated the indirect relationship between abusive supervision and employee time theft via moral disengagement. Originality/value This study advances understanding of how perceived leaders’ abusive supervision enhances employees’ time theft. This study contributes to the literature by confirming emotional exhaustion and moral disengagement as a pathway linking abusive supervision to employee time theft. The study further identifies perceived co-worker support as a moderating variable in the indirect relationship between abusive supervision and employees’ time theft.