Professor Jarrod Haar, Massey Uni (Albany),
Dr Maree Roche, WinTec, &
David Brougham, Massey Uni (Palm North)

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• Abusive supervision affected roughly 13.6% of
United States (US) workers, resulting in an estimated US$23 billion cost to business
• Prevalence largely unknown in NZ
• No studies on indigenous peoples
• Understanding how employees might better cope is imperative
• This study examines abusive supervision in New
Zealand on a sample of Maori workers and tests resilience as a way to buffer the potentially detrimental effects

• Abusive supervision defined as a “subordinates' perceptions of the extent to which supervisors engage in the sustained display of hostile verbal and nonverbal behaviors, excluding physical contact” (Tepper, 2000)
• Destructive supervisor behaviour is often observed through non-physical acts, such as using derogatory names, intimidation, using threats of job loss, engaging in explosive and angry outbursts, withholding necessary information, taking credit for a subordinate’s success, and humiliating or ridiculing a subordinate in front of others

• Abused subordinates signal feelings of frustration, alienation from work, helplessness, powerlessness, and undermined
• Manager’s behaviour has to be wilful or deliberate. But, whether the supervisor meant to intentionally cause harm to the subordinate is irrelevant e.g. supervisor mistreating their subordinate in order to encourage improved performance – thus the behaviour is intentional, yet not for reasons of causing harm
• Theoretical links? Org justice (fairness of treatment) and social exchange theory (give and take)

• Abusive supervision has been linked to a wide range of outcomes including job and personal outcomes. Overall, there is strong support for abusive supervision being detrimental to outcomes.
• Given high rates of mental health issues amongst
Maori, we focus on anxiety and depression
Hypotheses: Abusive supervision will be positively related to (1) anxiety and (2) depression.

• Toughness, the ability to be adaptable to adversity; hardiness; stress resistant.
• Resilience is not a trait that people either have or do not have. It involves behaviours, thoughts, and actions that can be learned and developed.
• It develops with time and is used when an individual is confronted with unanticipated situations/events and demonstrates the flexibility to cope
• Studies show resilience can be very important for coping with stressors and thus the focus of this study

• Due to Maori making up 13% of the NZ workplace, purposive sampling was undertaken.
• 100 organizations participated in the study and data collection was undertaken in two waves
(predictor and outcomes).
• From a total pool of 500 Maori employees
• 261 responses
• Respondents ranged across a variety of industries
• Measures were all robust 

• All 1-5 scale (low to high)
• Abusive Supervision: M=1.8
• Resilience: M=4.2
• Anxiety: M=1.9 & Depression: M=1.6
Regression analysis:
• Abusive supervision sig predicted anxiety (12% variance) and depression (18%). Resilience directly and negatively related but more modest: anxiety (4%) and depression (5%).
• Significant interaction effect towards depression only (extra 2% variance)

2,4
2,2
2
2,8
2,6
1,8
1,6
1,4
1,2
Low Abusive Supervision High Abusive Supervision
Low Resilience
High Resilience

• Support for the detrimental effects of abusive supervision on mental health
• Direct and buffering role of resilience 
• The results showed that abusive supervision is prevalent in NZ: occurring more often than in other studies M=1.8 (most < 1.8)
• Abusive supervision was found to be detrimental to both outcomes, although more to depression than anxiety
• However, overall these levels are low! 
• Broadly, this might reflect the benefits of paid employment for Maori(?)

• Importance of training and performance management/review of supervisors. Continual evaluation (e.g. 360 o ) may provide clearer evidence of abusive & timelier notice for HR
• Overall, there is strong support for resilience in its ability to enable Maori employees to withstand the detrimental effects of poor supervision
• Because resilience is a developmental construct, organizational interventions offer a way to build this construct – which benefits many other outcomes as well! 
• Acknowledgement: Research funded by Marsden Grant
(UOW806) “The Role of Maori Cultural Support for
Employees & Employers”