Abstract

On the basis of the social distance theory of power (SDT), this research investigates how abusive supervision affects the thoughts and outcomes of abusive supervisors towards themselves, their subordinates, and their organizations. The study relied on data collected from 300 supervisor–subordinate pairs in various Chinese organizations. The findings reveal a positive relationship between abusive supervision and the supervisor’s sense of power. Additionally, they indicate a positive link between the supervisor’s sense of power and social distance. Moreover, social distance is associated with two supervisor behaviours (i.e. task performance and altruism towards subordinates). However, this study does not confirm the proposed hypothesis regarding the relationship between social distance and change-oriented organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). Furthermore, contrary to the proposed weakening effect, high levels of relational self-construal actually strengthen the positive relationship between the supervisor’s sense of power and social distance.