Impact of employee's political skill on abusive supervision: does gender matter?

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to investigate if employees possessing good political skill face less abusive behavior from their supervisors. Moreover, the gender of the subordinate has been tested as a moderator between political skill and abusive supervision. Cultural and social factors prevailing in the research settings of Pakistan provide an ideal situation to test the relationship between political skill and abusive supervision.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from 178 employees representing different sectors of Pakistani industry. To test the relationship between political skill and abusive supervision, simple linear regression was run and moderation was tested using PROCESS macro.FindingsFrom the analysis, the major findings prove that political skill lessens abusive supervision. Moreover, due to the cultural settings, male subordinates use political skill more proficiently to avoid abusive supervision as compared to female subordinates.Practical implicationsThe study suggests that in order to maintain harmony in the work environment, employees must learn political skill to avoid abusive supervision. Moreover, females must be given more chances to utilize their political skill to get positive outcomes.Originality/valueThis study fills up a significant gap in the literature, as there is scarce literature available that investigates the relationship between political skill and abusive supervision, specifically in Pakistan.