The recursive relationship between abusive supervision and service performance

Purpose - Drawing upon the conservation of resources theory, this study investigates the recursive relationship between abusive supervision and service performance and the moderating role of coworker support in this recursive relationship. Design/methodology/approach - This study tests the model using moderated cross-lagged analysis with a three-wave longitudinal data from 146 hospitality employees who were working and studying in hospitality. Findings - Results support the recursive relationship: abusive supervision impairs service performance and employees with low service performance provoke abusive supervision. Coworker support mitigates the lagged effect between abusive supervision and service performance and that between service performance and abusive supervision. Practical implications - Hospitality organizations should have a zero-tolerance policy toward abusive supervision. Employees who would like to avoid abuse should improve their service performance and seek coworker support. Originality/value - This study uses a novel analytical approach to examine the recursive relationship between abusive supervision and service performance. It provides evidence on the bidirectional causal relationship and sheds light on how employees can avoid getting abused. This study is also one of the first studies that examine the moderating role of coworker support on the effect of service performance on abusive supervision.