Down but not out: the moderating role of self-leadership on abusive supervision, work engagement and withdrawal behaviors

Purpose Our study investigates the moderating role of self-leadership on the relationships between abusive supervision, work engagement and psychological withdrawal behaviors. It aims to understand whether higher levels of self-leadership can mitigate the negative impacts of abusive supervision on work engagement and psychological withdrawal behaviors. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 259 participants using Amazon MTurk. We employed a cross-sectional survey design and utilized SPSS PROCESS for moderated mediation analysis. Key variables measured with established scales included abusive supervision, work engagement, psychological withdrawal behaviors and self-leadership. Findings Our results indicate that abusive supervision is negatively related to work engagement and that work engagement is negatively related to psychological withdrawal behaviors. Self-leadership moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and both work engagement and psychological withdrawal behaviors, suggesting that self-leadership strategies can buffer the negative effects of abusive supervision. Practical implications Our study highlights the importance of self-leadership training as a practical intervention to mitigate the negative impacts of abusive supervision. Organizations should consider incorporating self-leadership strategies into their training programs to enhance employee resilience and engagement. Originality/value Our study is among the first to explore the moderating role of self-leadership in the context of abusive supervision. It provides new insights into how individual-level strategies can mitigate negative workplace behaviors and enhance employee well-being.