Abstract: Abusive supervision was defined as subordinates’ perceptions of the extent to which supervisors engage in the sustained display of hostile verbal and nonverbal behaviors, excluding physical contact. Studies have indicated that abusive supervision is related to a host of outcome variables, including psychological and behavioral outcomes as well as effectiveness of employees and organizations. Factors such as supervisors’ perceptions of injustice and contract breach and some characteristics of subordinates and industrial environment are significantly predictive of abusive supervision. This paper summarized the theories and studies on abusive supervision in the domain of OB, and pointed out some prospects for the future research such as the preventing and intervening mechanism of abusive supervision.

Key words: abusive supervision, abusive supervisor, supervisor, subordinate