Abusive supervision and employee creativity: the mediating role of passion for inventing and the moderating role of financial incentives and innovative culture

Based on work passion model and the substitutes for leadership perspectives, this study examines the process linking abusive supervision to employee creativity by focusing on the mediating influence of employees’ passion for inventing and the moderating influence of financial incentives and innovative culture. Data were obtained from 191 subordinates and their direct supervisor in China. We tested hypotheses using hierarchical multiple regression analyses. The results revealed that abusive supervision was negatively related to employee creativity, and employees’ passion for inventing mediated the relationship between abusive supervision and employee creativity. Furthermore, financial incentives weakened the negative relationship between abusive supervision and employees’ passion for inventing, while innovative culture could not change the above relationship. This study enriches the understanding of how abusive supervision is related to employee creativity by introducing the emotional mechanism and provides practical implications for reducing the harm of abusive supervision.