Newcomers' reaction to the abusive supervision toward peers during organizational socialization

This research examines how and when newcomers witnessing abusive supervision toward peers relate to newcomer organizational socialization outcomes. Drawing from social information processing theory, it is proposed that newcomers witnessing abusive supervision toward peers harms newcomer organizational socialization outcomes (i.e., social integration, role clarity, and task mastery) by discouraging them from engaging in proactive behaviors (i.e., information seeking from the supervisor, relationship building with the supervisor, and positive framing). It is further proposed that the strength of the negative association between newcomers witnessing abusive supervision toward peers, newcomer proactive behaviors, and newcomer organizational socialization outcomes is contingent on the salience of newcomer future work self. A time-lagged study of 164 newcomer–supervisor dyads from a large pharmacy chain company in Northern China supports the hypothesized moderated mediation model. Specifically, the indirect effect of newcomers witnessing abusive supervision toward peers on newcomer organizational socialization outcomes via proactive behaviors was negative and significant for newcomers with low future work self salience (FWSS), but not for newcomers with high FWSS. The research implications for theory and practice relating to newcomer organizational socialization and abusive supervision are also discussed. •Newcomers witnessing abusive supervision toward peers impair newcomer proactive behaviors and socialization outcomes.•FWSS alleviates the negative effect of newcomers witnessing abusive supervision toward peers on proactive behaviors.•Attention should be paid to detrimental effect of abusive supervision on newcomers from the third-party perspective.