Abusive Supervision in the Hospitality Industry
Creators: name: YU, YITONG
Publisher: name: University of Surrey
Year: 2021

description: Abusive supervision has attracted the attention of researchers in recent decades. As a service
description: sector, abusive supervision in the hospitality industry has been shown to be an important and
description: complex issue (Yu et al., 2020). This thesis aims to explore and examine abusive supervision
description: issues in the hospitality industry from multiple perspectives. Based on a review of empirical
description: studies on abusive supervision in the hospitality industry, the experience sampling method
description: (ESM) was identified as a valuable research direction. The applications of ESM are presented
description: in detail and applied in Empirical Study 1 to explore the relationship between abusive
description: supervision and subordinates’ daily emotional labour. Empirical Study 2 focuses on
description: bystanders’ reactions to abusive supervision, investigating the topic of abusive supervision
description: from the perspective of bystanders rather than victims of abusive supervision. <br>
description: <br>
description: This thesis uses a manuscript-based format. The first manuscript is a systematic review of the
description: empirical studies on abusive supervision in the hospitality industry, the second presents the
description: applications of ESM in the hospitality industry, and the third and fourth are two empirical
description: studies of abusive supervision from the perspectives of victims and bystanders, respectively.
description: The systematic review covers 36 studies on abusive supervision in the hospitality industry
description: and demonstrates that ESM is a valuable and promising approach in abusive supervision
description: research. On the basis of this finding, the second manuscript presents in detail the
description: applications of ESM in hospitality research. By providing practical instructions on ESM and
description: identifying appropriate research topics in the hospitality industry, this manuscript offers
description: detailed guidelines for the applications of the method in hospitality research. Empirical Study
description: 1 applies ESM to explore the relationship between abusive supervision and subordinates’
description: daily emotional labour. It reveals the daily fluctuations in the emotional labour of frontline
description: employees in the hospitality industry. Empirical Study 2 investigates the emotional and
description: behavioural reactions of bystanders to abusive supervision in the hospitality industry. Using
description: in-depth semi-structured interviews, this study provides an integrated picture of bystanders’
description: emotional and behavioural reactions to abusive supervision, ranging from negative emotions
description: to unconcerned and exclusionary feelings and from supportive behaviours to avoidance,
description: gossip, and learning behaviours. <br>
description: <br>
description: As a whole study, this thesis investigated abusive supervision in the hospitality industry from
description: both victims’ and bystanders’ perspectives. From the victims’ perspective, abusive
description: supervision has been found to be positively related to victims’ daily surface acting through
description: their daily work engagement. Meanwhile, victims’ mindfulness moderates the relationship
description: between daily abusive supervision and their daily work engagement. From the bystanders’
description: perspective, abusive supervision has been found to influence bystanders’ emotions and
description: behaviours. Bystanders had various negative and unconcerned emotions, and showed helping,
description: avoiding, gossiping and learning behaviours towards abusive supervision. These findings
description: have supplemented the abusive supervision research in the hospitality industry. From a
description: theoretical perspective, this thesis has firstly identified key research trends and framed the
description: outlines of empirical studies in the hospitality industry. Following the research trends and
description: identifying the research gaps, this thesis has firstly explored the instant effects of abusive
description: supervision on frontline employees’ emotional labour through a diary study, and it is also
description: among the first attempts to understand abusive supervision from a bystander perspective in
description: the hospitality and tourism context. From a practical perspective, this thesis has identified the
description: potential negative impacts of abusive supervision in the hospitality industry and it can help
description: managers establish principles and rules and arrange associated training programmes to reduce
description: the negative impacts of abusive supervision.<br>