Relationship of abusive supervision and employees’ helping behaviors: moderated-mediation perspective

Purpose This study, based on the conservation of resource theory, aims to investigate the negative impacts of abusive supervision on helping behaviors among employees by examining the mediating role of rumination and the moderating role of psychological flexibility. Design/methodology/approach A total sample of 282 reliable questionnaires are collected from 282 employees working in education and banking sectors of Pakistan. SPSS and AMOS are used for data analysis of the proposed model. Findings The findings reveal that rumination mediates the relationship between abusive supervision and employees’ helping behavior. In addition, the results show that higher levels of psychological flexibility negatively moderate the relationship between abusive supervision and employees’ helping behaviors through mediation. Practical implications This study elucidates how and when abusive supervision deters helping behavior among employees and provides useful guidelines for banking/university’s administration to understand harmful consequences of abusive supervision and take appropriate policy measures to lessen their harmful effects upon employees. Originality/value By proposing a moderated mediation model, this study discovers rumination as a key mediator that links abusive supervision to employees’ helping behaviors and identifies the role of psychological flexibility in diminishing the negative impacts of abusive supervision upon employees’ helping behaviors through rumination.