If it hurts you than it is not a joke: Employee’s Views of Working Relationship and Abusive Supervision at Workplace

Abstract

Current study is a qualitative (inductive) attempt where we have approached abusive supervision in the light of paranoid state for thorough understanding of the process that how and why employees opt for safety behaviors at workplace. Using the sample of two educational institutes, we have adopted triangulation hence data collected from the lecturers and assistant professors first through semi-structured interviews and then after confirmed by participant observation. Data analyzed manually using grounded theory and later on it was summarized into three categories as empirical themes, theoretical concepts and theoretical dimensions. Our analysis brings into focus the negative environmental influences that foster the climate of abusive supervision and end up on the bureaucratic approach (one of the main contribution as well as emergent theme of this research) followed by employee safety behaviors. Following this lead, current study arrives on a data structure and theorizing model that provides clear understanding of how and why employees adopt safety behaviors and opt for bureaucratic approach at workplace and summed up on the contribution and future directions.