Print Email Facebook Twitter How Fear of External Threats Plays Roles Title How Fear of External Threats Plays Roles: An Examination of Supervisors’ Trait Anger, Abusive Supervision, Subordinate Burnout and CCB Author Zhang, Wen (Beijing Normal University) Liu, Wei (TU Delft Design Aesthetics) Wu, Yingyee (Beijing Normal University) Ma, Chenlu (Beijing Normal University) Xiao, Xiyao (Beijing Normal University) Zhang, Xichao (Beijing Normal University) Date 2022 Abstract In times of uncertainty, such as during COVID-19, many organizations experience profit decline, and employees develop a fear of external threats, such as organizational layoffs. However, most of the literature focuses on how people’s fear influences their well-being. Less is known about how employees’ fear of external threats influences their workplace behaviors. The current study proposes that supervisors’ fear of external threats stimulates those who are high in trait anger to behave in a more abusive way. Simultaneously, subordinates’ fear of external threats would strengthen the positive relationship between abusive supervision and their burnout and compulsory citizenship behaviors (CCB), as fear of external threats constrains their response options to abusive supervision. We tested the hypotheses with a multiwave and multisource survey study (N = 322 dyads) in China, and the results showed that supervisors’ fear of external threats strengthened the positive effect of trait anger on abusive supervision. Subordinates’ fear of external threats strengthens the positive relationships of abusive supervision with CCB and the mediating effect of abusive supervision in the relationship of supervisors’ trait anger with subordinates’ CCB. Our study enriches people’s understanding of how supervisors’ and subordinates’ fear of external threats may play roles in workplace behaviors. Subject abusive supervisionburnoutcompulsory citizenship behaviorsfear of external threatstrait anger To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:7faa82b3-5a0d-4457-9a0b-37a4cdf52d32 DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416810 ISSN 1661-7827 Source International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19 (24) Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2022 Wen Zhang, Wei Liu, Yingyee Wu, Chenlu Ma, Xiyao Xiao, Xichao Zhang Files PDF ijerph_19_16810_v2.pdf 1.03 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:7faa82b3-5a0d-4457-9a0b-37a4cdf52d32/datastream/OBJ/view