Task without purpose & leaders without boundaries: A new paradigm for understanding employee's intentions

This study aims to examine the cascading effects of illegitimate tasks and abusive supervision on employees' turnover intentions, emphasising the mediating influence of perceived obligation. It aims to comprehend how symbolic breaches of role dignity and interpersonal abuse intersect to undermine psychological commitment within organisational settings. The study proposes and examines a sequential mediation model based on Social Exchange Theory, Stress-as-Offence-to-Self Theory, Conservation of Resources Theory, and Affective Events Theory. Data were gathered from 304 employees in industrial cities of Gujarat, India. The hypotheses were tested using smartPls 4.0 with path analysis. The results indicate that both illegitimate duties and abusive supervision substantially diminish felt obligation, thereby elevating turnover intentions. Felt obligation somewhat mediates both associations. The cascade theory provides empirical evidence for the synergistic impact of task-level and relational abuse on employee departure. This research presents a novel integrated framework that positions felt obligation as a psychological fulcrum between mistreatment and turnover, with both practical and theoretical consequences for ethical leadership and task design. This study is practical because of the responsible supervision and role appropriate task assignments, the former promotes employee dignity, the latter role clarification and the third is increased efficiency in the workplace.