Abusive Supervision in the Armed Forces

Abstract

Leaders have the potential to be the agents of virtue or vice in organizations because they shape and influence the collective moral character of the organization. As such, we believe that the study of bad character, as a complement to the study of virtue, has value for leadership education and development. This research presents a causal model which lists the factors necessary for the perception of abusive supervision by military subordinates and the likely consequences of those perceptions and discusses the factors which might lead to outcomes for subordinates exposed to this form of destructive leader behavior.