Abusive supervision and turnover intentions: The mediating role of perceived organisational support

Abusive supervision has a significant impact on employee turnover intentions. An underexplored factor in this area is the influence of support: we test perceived organisational support as a mediator. The present study utilised data from three distinct populations within New Zealand: (1) ethnically diverse blue-collar workers, (2) Maori (the indigenous people of New Zealand) employees, and (3) Chinese employees working within New Zealand. Structural equation modelling from the combined sample of 432 respondents (in total) showed that the indirect-effects model fit the data best, where abusive supervision was positively related to turnover intentions and negatively towards perceived organisational support; while support was negatively related to turnover intentions. Our findings bear out the notion that organisational support mediates the influence of abusive supervision on turnover intentions, highlighting the effect of organisational influence within this area. By exploring these relationships on three distinct populations, this study improves the generalisability of the related theories.