Insomnia and impulsive buying under abusive supervisors: Mediation of ego depletion and moderation of coworker support

Abstract

Compared with the vast amount of research on the deleterious effects of abusive supervision on work outcomes, its effect on off-job behavior has received little scholarly attention. To bridge this gap, we examined the long-term effects of abusive supervision on subsequent insomnia and impulsive buying among frontline service employees (FSEs). We focused on the mediating roles of job insecurity and ego depletion, and the moderating roles of coworker emotional and instrumental support. To test our hypotheses, we collected three-wave data 3 months apart from 318 FSEs. As hypothesized, FSEs' experiences of abusive supervision significantly affected insomnia and impulsive buying 6 months later. Job insecurity and ego depletion sequentially mediated these relationships. Although coworker emotional support mitigated the deleterious effects of abusive supervision on insomnia and impulsive buying through job insecurity and ego depletion, coworker instrumental support aggravated these effects. These findings contribute to the literature by providing novel insights into the role of abusive supervision in maladaptive off-job behavior and its boundary conditions.