The interaction of supervisor bottom-line mentality and moral relativism in supervisor incivility

Abstract

This research explores how characteristics of supervisors and subordinates interact to shape workplace incivility, focusing on supervisor-subordinate dynamics. Grounded in moral exclusion theory, we propose that subordinate performance influences supervisor incivility, moderated by supervisors' bottom-line mentality (BLM) and moral relativism. We hypothesize that supervisor BLM could influence how they perceive the utility of a subordinate's performance, while their moral relativism might affect the application of justice principle. This combination may lead supervisors to exclude low-performing subordinates from the scope of justice and act uncivilly toward them. Analyzing multilevel lagged data from 108 supervisors and 469 subordinates, we find that the negative impact of subordinate performance on supervisor incivility is intensified by the supervisor's moral relativism. Specifically, subordinate performance has the strongest negative effect on supervisor incivility when both supervisor BLM and moral relativism are high. These findings offer significant theoretical and managerial insights, which we discuss in detail below.

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ORCID for Yucheng Zhang: orcid.org/0000-0001-9435-6734

ORCID for Suchi Liu: orcid.org/0000-0002-4070-4948

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