Impact of Abusive Supervision on Fear-based Silence with Mediating Role of Perceived Job Insecurity and Emotion Regulation

Abstract

Abusive supervision has been a significant concern in organizations. Abusive supervision has numerous consequences, but one of the most significant is employee silence. Emotions play a vital role when any employee at any place faces abusive supervision, which leads researchers to examine the links between emotional intelligence with abusive supervision and has deep roots in emotions. Where employees’ emotions regulations have significance, and this has not been explored so far in detail. This study took this relative combination of Abusive Supervision, Emotion Regulation, Perceived Job Insecurity, and Fear-Based Silence. Abusive supervision has been examined in relation to fear-based silence directly; however, when tested through the mediating roles of emotion regulation and perceived job insecurity, it created an interesting conceptual framework and research model. 500 digital questionnaires have been distributed to the banking sector employees of Punjab, Pakistan. However, 304 valid responses were accepted. Data was carefully arranged and analyzed through Smart PLS4. The study concluded that abusive supervision has a strong association with fear-based silence, and employees choose to remain silent in response to abusive supervision. Although emotion regulation has a direct link, it also demonstrated a strong mediating effect. In contrast, perceived job insecurity showed an insignificant effect in both mediating roles.