Abusive supervision and work-family conflict: The path through emotional labor and burnout

Building on the theoretical foundations of conservation of resources theory, this research provides insights into the relationship of abusive supervision with work-family conflict (work-to-family and family-to-work). Further, it is the first attempt to incorporate the emotional labor to burnout link as the mediating process between abuse and conflict. Using a sample of 328 individuals working fulltime we examined both the direct relationship of abuse with conflict as well as the indirect relationship through surface acting (emotional labor) and burnout. Our results suggest that abusive supervision influences conflict and the relationship is partially mediated through the surface acting to burnout path. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.