1. Introduction
The hospitality industry is characterized by high-demand job roles and functions [
1,
2,
3]. These functions usually create work-related pressure and stress for employees within the industry. Furthermore, the nature of hospitality demands a high degree of attention from employees. With such pressure, it is unsurprising that supervisors seeking to get the best out of their subordinates display some abusive behaviors on the job.
According to Tepper et al., abusive supervision is the subordinates’ subjective perception of the display of sustained hostile aggression by their supervisor, which can include belittlement, exclusion, and open rebuke—any abusive behavior short of actual physical contact [
4]. Given the negative role of this behavior in the sustainable development of organizations, an increasing number of scholars have sought to probe its antecedents to lessen its deleterious effects [
5]. A recent empirical study also addressed the role of abusive supervision in retaining employees in service organizations [
6]. The authors found that abusive supervision has a significant impact on employees’ psychological well-being and turnover intention. Kim et al.’s 2020 study [
7] also suggested that abusive supervision is considered a serious threat to the health of the affected employees and the sustainable development of organizations. A close link between organizational leadership/supervision and the sustainable development of organizations was also confirmed by several famous theories and approaches. For example, the service profit chain model developed by Heskett et al. [
8] suggested a cascade effect that results in organizations’ sustainable performance. The authors argued that to achieve sustainable performance service organizations need to first possess a supervisor or leader who can motivate and retain competent employees. Motivating employees plays a significant role in providing high-quality service [
9]. Parasuraman et al.’s [
10,
11] SERVQUAL model also supports this relationship between employee performance and the service quality perception of customers. The authors also suggest that service quality is among the most important antecedents of customer satisfaction and, consequently, customer loyalty. Both these approaches verified this process by assessing the organization’s profitability and competitive advantage over rivals. From a sustainability perspective, this process starts with healthy supervision and ends with the organization’s financial performance and can be used to assess service companies’ sustainable development in the market. That is, leadership or supervisorship is a starting point for ensuring the sustainable development of service organizations in the market. In a similar vein, Barney’s [
12] resource-based view also contributes to this discussion by developing a conceptual model prioritizing organizational resources (i.e., financial resources, human resources, and physical resources) as a way to gain a sustained competitive advantage. The author suggested that organizational resources, such as supervisors and employees, should have some attributes (i.e., rare, valuable, inimitable, irreplaceable) that encourage the sustainable development of the market. In other words, this theory also confirms that supervisors and employees are among the most important internal resources for achieving sustainable performance in service organizations. Thus, our study has the potential to provide insight regarding the impacts of abusive supervision on employees and organizations’ sustainable development in the hospitality sector.
Leadership has emerged as an active domain in theory building and research, presenting a more scientific and evidence-based background that helped to develop scholars’ and practitioners’ long-standing attention to this concept. For over 60 years, leadership scholars have struggled to clarify the features of leadership that improve firm performance, particularly in the tourism and hospitality industry [
13,
14]. Research over the past half-century has sought to establish why and how some leadership styles are more efficient than others, but the response is elusive and scholars are still trying to clarify numerous issues [
15].
Many scholars have investigated positive leadership styles and their influences on employee-level and firm-level outcomes [
16,
17]. Previous studies have examined positive leadership styles, such as transformational leadership [
18,
19], servant leadership [
14,
20], authentic leadership [
21], charismatic leadership [
22], spiritual leadership [
23], and ethical leadership [
24], in the hospitality sector. Moreover, many researchers have suggested a foundation of leadership to guarantee the sustainable development of organizations in the hospitality industry [
25] because of its complex and dynamic nature [
13,
26]. Other scholars have suggested that leadership influences job performance in the hospitality industry [
27,
28]. Specifically, leadership style, either positive or negative, has a direct effect on employees’ performance and attitudes.
Epitropaki and Martin’s work found a significant effect of transformational and transactional leadership styles on employee organizational identification [
29]. Similarly, Vondey’s study found that servant leadership has a significant impact on employee organizational identification [
30]. More recently, Fallatah et al. revealed the significant relationship between authentic leadership and employee organizational identification in healthcare organizations [
31]. Several scholars have also investigated leadership styles and their effects on employees’ performance and quality of work life. Leitão et al.’s pioneering study found that employees who feel supported by their supervisors are more likely to feel that they contribute to the firm’s productivity [
32].
On the other hand, negative leadership styles were also investigated to test their impacts on employees. To illustrate, Decoster et al.’s pioneering work found that abusive supervision has a significant impact on organizational identification [
33]. Considering this background, hospitality organizations are expected to suffer negative effects from abusive supervision in terms of their employees’ psychological and behavioral outcomes [
34].
Based on affective event theory, which posits that affective events within organizations are appraised by individuals cognitively while trying to assess their effect on their personal well-being [
35], hospitality employees may attribute negative value to abuse from their supervisor. Employees may then easily believe that their psychological contract with their organization has been breached as members of the management team are considered to be ambassadors of their departments. Moreover, the core argument of affective event theory is that job attitudes and behaviors are influenced by emotional reactions. Recent research has investigated employees’ emotional reactions by considering burnout syndrome as a moderating variable in the assessment of employees’ quality of their work life and their feelings of contribution to the firm’s productivity [
36].
Psychological contracts are based on perceived promises and arise when one party believes that another party is obliged to perform certain deeds and behaviors [
37]. A psychological contract violation, according to Morrison and Robinson, is an employee’s perception that their organization has failed to adequately fulfill its psychological contract [
38]. As many prior studies have demonstrated, the concept of the psychological contract and its violation is rooted in the tenets of social relationships: fulfillment or otherwise of the contract will elicit a commensurate reaction or behavior from employees. Identity is a reciprocal notion that is constructed by interacting with others [
39]. As for organizational identity, it is generally considered fundamental, distinct, and permanent regarding the nature of an organization [
40].
Research into the organizational behavior literature highlights the relevance and importance of employee identification [
41]. In organizational contexts, employees may identify with organizations, and their relations with their supervisors or leaders can shape their identification because supervisors represent the organization [
42]. The role of supervisors in employee identification has been scarcely studied in the hospitality literature. Although much has been discussed regarding the antecedents and consequences of abusive supervision, research into when and how abusive supervision affects employee outcomes, such as a psychological contract violation (PCV) and organizational identification, is lacking. Therefore, we analyzed the potential effect of abusive supervision on employee organizational identification by focusing on the mediating role of a PCV and the moderating role of favoritism (see
Figure 1).
2. Theoretical Background and Literature Review
2.1. Affective Event Theory and Emotional Contagion Theory
According to Weiss and Cropanzano, affective event theory suggests that people evaluate affective events cognitively, examining the event’s associations and importance for their individual wellbeing [
35]. That is, organizational events are the proximal causes of affective reactions, where these affective reactions have direct influences on behaviors and attitudes [
35]. The outcomes of these appraisals usually lead to behavioral responses and discrete emotions such as anger or joy [
43,
44]. The core tenet of affective event theory is that job attitudes and behaviors are influenced by emotional reactions [
35]. Its use in understanding leadership has been well documented in the literature [
44,
45,
46,
47,
48]. The theory also describes the changes in affective state within a person, how these changes are rooted in regular events, and their effects on simultaneous changes in performance-related conduct [
49].
Like affective event theory, emotional contagion theory suggests that discrete emotions within teams or an organization tend to spread across the entire team through a process of contagion [
49]. Emotions such as happiness, joy, sadness, and anger may, through the trickle-down effect, transfer from a supervisor to their subordinates. Hatfield et al. argued that emotions are “caught” or picked up in a process of emotional contagion among team members [
50].
Affective event theory claims that affective experiences may have attitudinal and behavioral impacts, which were taken into consideration in this study. Numerous studies have asserted the usefulness of understanding how a leader might influence the attitudinal and behavioral experiences of followers in a failure feedback situation. The literature on leadership and emotions is expanding, with much empirical research regarding the impact of leadership on subordinates.
Engle and Lord concluded that a leader’s positive affective disposition triggers higher-quality leader–member exchanges, as it enhances the trust level or causes the emotion of the leader to “spread” to followers [
51]. Studies on mood contagion in nursing, accounting, and sports teams have concluded that the mood of the group leader impacts the overall affective state of all group members [
52,
53]. If the leader’s emotions are positive, the group members’ emotions tend to also be positive [
54].
On the other hand, some research has focused on the influence of the leader on subordinates’ attitudes and work performance. Organizational studies showed that the more positive the leader’s affective disposition is, the better the group performance can be when serving customers [
55]. George’s research also revealed that a more positive group affective tone could make group members more engaged in prosocial organizational behaviors. Consistent with this theory, this study assumes that a supervisor’s negative behavior can be detrimental for employees’ psychological outcomes, which in turn can negatively affect employees’ organizational identification.
2.2. Abusive Supervision and Psychological Contract Violation
Workplace conditions affect employees’ attitudes and behaviors. This is a core tenet of affective event theory. Abusive supervision may be considered an affective episode with several affective events that span across a certain period [
56,
57,
58]. Each abusive event, such as verbal aggression, results in an affective reaction. Incidents of abuse may increase the level of negative emotions experienced by the abused subordinates.
Supervisors are often considered representatives of the organization by their subordinates, as most management decisions and directions are communicated to the employees through supervisors. Therefore, if supervisors act in a hostile manner or are abusive toward their subordinates, it can be interpreted as the organization condoning such behaviors. Hence, the perception of a psychological contract breach may be strengthened. In particular, since a breach of a psychological contract is a subjective evaluation, it is easy for abused employees to conclude that the organization has failed to deliver on its promises [
59].
Since psychological contract fulfillment is important for the emotional stability of the employees and, indirectly, their contribution to organizational performance, a breach of contract must be avoided. Thus, the following hypothesis was proposed:
Hypothesis 1 (H1). Abusive supervision has a positive influence on employees feeling a psychological contract violation has occurred.
2.3. Psychological Contract Violations and Organizational Identification
Identity is defined as the essence of an individual or a group. Organizations differ from each other in their ideals, norms, and beliefs, all of which form a unique identity for an organization [
60]. These elements of organizational identity also govern the systems, processes, and operations of organizations. Therefore, it is important for the management of service organizations that want to differentiate themselves from the pack to devise mechanisms through which organizational identity is transferred from the visionaries, who are most often top executives, to the lowest-ranked member of staff.
Among other means, psychological contract fulfillment is a way in which the management of a service establishment can motivate their employees into embracing the identity of their organization. In contrast, a psychological contract breach, which is usually defined in the literature as the employees’ perception that the promises made by their organization to them have not been fulfilled [
61,
62,
63], tends to generate negative emotions among employees, making them question the authenticity of the organization’s commitment to them, thereby reducing their sense of identification with the organization.
When employees, based on a feeling of injustice or unfairness, feel that their psychological contract has been breached, they are less likely to commit to the norms, ideals, and traditions of the organization. Bearing this in mind, the next hypothesis was proposed:
Hypothesis 2 (H2). Psychological contract violations negatively influence employees’ organizational identification.
2.4. Mediating Role of Psychological Contract Violations
Abusive supervision, organizational identification, and psychological contract violations are all subjective evaluations or perceptions made by individuals. It is thus expected that their co-existence may impact one another. For example, an employee with a high perception of abuse from their supervisor is highly likely to sense a psychological contract breach and have feelings of alienation from the organization. While abusive supervision may negatively affect employees’ feelings of togetherness and belongingness, psychological contract breaches may also act as a mediator between these two constructs such that employees’ identification with the organization may be weakened after experiencing a psychological contract breach.
As prior studies have suggested, service organizations must ensure that employees are highly committed and identify with the organization to harness their full potential to achieve customer satisfaction; hence, it is imperative that abuse is prevented in such organizations. Therefore, understanding the mechanism through which abusive supervision impedes employees’ identification is critical.
Hypothesis 3 (H3). Psychological contract violations mediate the relationship between abusive supervision and employees’ organizational identification.
2.5. The Moderating Role of a Climate of Favoritism
Treating workers in a just and equal way causes them to perceive their organization as having kept to its psychological contract [
64]. On the other hand, a violation arises if one side perceives that the other side has not kept its promises [
65,
66]. The psychological contract involves an unspoken agreement from the two sides to behave fairly to each other [
67]. The disregard or breaking of this agreement can be avoided if the two parties have the same attitude toward liabilities and are aware of how these will be discharged by each side [
68]. However, in a work atmosphere that fosters favoritism, it is not possible to conduct HR practices in a just and transparent way [
69,
70] since certain employees might be rewarded owing not to good performance but to being favored by the employer [
71]. This kind of treatment could impair the perception of equality in family firms [
72,
73]. Hence, comprehending the PCV and its possible impacts upon family businesses is necessary for the future of a firm since former research on PCVs has posited that a violation of this agreement could result in higher turnover and lower levels of trust, organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behaviors [
58,
59,
61,
70]. Therefore, we posited the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 4 (H4). A climate of favoritism moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and employees’ psychological contract violation.
The unfavorable work-associated changes that derive from favoritism could produce PCVs in the organization from the perspective of employees. The harmful effects of a work climate of favoritism can also trigger employee perceptions of inequality, especially among non-family-member employees, such as seasonal and migrant workers [
74]. Several scholars have suggested that employees’ perception of inequality is associated with PCVs and results in negative employee outcomes, such as withdrawal and counterproductive attitudes [
75,
76]. In addition, recent studies have noted the effects of PCVs in terms of reduced employee satisfaction and organizational commitment [
63,
77]. In such a work environment, the leadership style adopted by supervisors, particularly one that involves favoritism, could decrease the number of employee PCVs by providing fair leadership practices, such as authentic supervision, which can ensure that a family-run organization is still a meritocracy [
26]. However, unethical leadership principles, such as abusive supervision, may enhance employees’ feeling of a breach of the psychological contract, particularly in family firms, due to favoritism [
26,
78]. Based on the argument that a significantly negative association exists between PCVs and employee organizational identification when favoritism and abusive supervisor practices are adopted, the present study proposes that the indirect effect of abusive supervision on employee identification through PCVs will be stronger in a work climate of favoritism. Therefore, the following hypothesis was posited:
Hypothesis 5 (H5). Favoritism will moderate the indirect influence of abusive supervision on employee organizational identity through PCVs such that the indirect influence is stronger when the employee’s perception of favoritism is high.
7. Discussion
This work outlined the predictors and psychological mechanisms of organizational identification (OID) by focusing on the fundamental influence of abusive supervision (AS), the mediating role of PCVs, and the moderating role of a climate of favoritism. The study findings demonstrate that abusive supervision was significantly associated with psychological contract violation, and the association was more powerful for employees encountering a stronger climate of favoritism in family-run organizations. Moreover, PCVs mediated the joint influence of a climate of favoritism and abusive supervision on OID.
7.1. Theoretical Implications
Based on both affective event and emotional contagion theories, we examined the influence of AS on OID by examining the mediating role of PCVs. Moreover, we investigated the moderating effect of a climate of favoritism on the association between the extent of PCVs and OID and the indirect relationship between AS and OID. PCVs mediated the relationship between abusive supervision and OID. Furthermore, a climate of favoritism moderated the direct effect of PCVs on OID, and the indirect effect of AS on OID through the extent of PCVs.
The study helped us to understand how PCVs impacted the relationship between AS and OID and how a climate of favoritism moderated its direct and indirect effects on OID using a sample of 23 family-run hotels. The findings suggested that AS significantly affected OID, which corroborates the empirical findings of Decoster et al. [
33], Liu et al. [
88], and Wei and Si [
89]. Our results also show that PCVs were related to OID. This is consistent with prior research [
59,
90,
91,
92] in that the combination of abusive leadership practices and PCVs significantly influences OID. Additionally, PCVs mediated the relationship between AS and OID. Therefore, our results are consistent with previous studies [
88], indicating that AS is one of the important antecedents of PCVs, which subsequently determines the OID of the employees in the research content. Another important outcome of this study was the empirically evidenced relationship between a climate of favoritism and PCVs by the employees to produce a negative influence on OID. This work has attracted interest regarding the detrimental influences of a climate of favoritism on affective PCVs. In particular, a greater volume of PCV measures is linked with an enhanced OID, but only when the climate of favoritism of such hotels is more obvious. Simply stated, better managerial outcomes could be accomplished regarding OID if abusive supervision is replaced by ethical leadership.
In short, a climate of favoritism moderated the relationship between PCVs and OID. Therefore, this study contributes to the PCV literature by identifying crucial and new situations under which PCVs influence OID. Finally, our study confirmed the relationships between AS, PCVs, and OID by analyzing the boundary conditions of a climate of favoritism from the perspective of contingent employees. The indirect influence of AS on OID through PCVs was stronger when the climate of favoritism was high; this means that, in organizations where AS did exist, OID was lowered only when the climate of favoritism was strong. To sum up, simultaneously including PCVs and a climate of favoritism in the hypothesized relationships facilitated the comprehension of AS, as well as its link to OID.
Our findings also contribute to the sustainability literature. The contribution of our study is at least twofold. First, by empirically examining the role of AS in OID, we confirmed the importance of the dark side of leadership in hospitality organizations. This implies that AS needs to be considered as an important agent of service organizations that leads to changes in employees’ behaviors and attitudes, which in turn leads to organizations’ sustainable development in the market. This important finding is congruent with previous empirical studies [
6,
7] that suggested that AS is an important factor that affects organizations’ sustainable development in service industries. Thus, our study extended our understanding regarding AS and we call for further research on its direct impacts on the sustainable performance of organizations. Second, our empirical findings also endorsed several theoretical guidelines that suggest the important role of internal resources, such as managers, supervisors, and employees, in achieving sustained competitive advantage in the market [
8,
12]. This theoretical knowledge was shown by our empirical findings by revealing the role of AS in affecting employee OID via PCVs. Our findings also contribute to previous research [
93] that revealed the relationship between leadership and OID in hotel organizations. This brings with itself a new question:
does abusive supervision have an indirect effect on organizations’ sustainable performance via OID or is there a significant relationship between a higher level of OID and the sustainable development of organizations?. Simply stated, this study opens up a new avenue through which to examine the role of abusive supervision in the sustainability literature, which has received surprisingly little attention from sustainability researchers.
7.2. Practical Implications
Several implications may be identified from the findings of this work. First, PCVs trigger aggrieved employees to act abusively toward their peers and customers. Thus, hotel management ought to try to steer clear of the negative impacts connected with psychological contracts by avoiding impractical promises made during selection, orientation, promotion, rewarding, and job communications. According to Arasli et al. [
94], management promises might be raising expectations and could be motivating in the short term, but in the long term, they might harm both workers and companies if the promises are not kept. If AS is inevitable, feelings of anger and distrust might be reduced and staff trust increased via an ethical, authentic leadership style [
63].
Furthermore, hospitality specialists can benefit from this study by familiarizing themselves with the antecedents of OID to find ways to improve their management practices. The results specify that AS negatively affected OID, especially due to the undesired contribution of favoritism in family organizations. Practitioners might thus try to develop human resources policies, such as recruitment and selection policies, making them more transparent and efficient in terms of organizational outcomes.
7.3. Limitations and Future Research Directions
Like its predecessors, this study suffered from some limitations. First, although the sample included three different employment types, namely, seasonal, migrant, and part-time employees, all three were considered as one group and we ignored their potential differences. Future studies could focus on the differences between the employment types to expand our understanding of the proposed model. Second, the study’s findings relied on data gathered from a single source (i.e., employees). Thus, collecting data from multiple sources, including employees and supervisors, and comparing their answers would pay dividends. Third, in this study, family firms were considered, and other types of hospitality organizations were not included. Future examinations could include other types of hotels. Fourth, future studies could also examine the potentially detrimental effects of AS on other employee outcomes, such as engagement, citizenship behaviors, and job embeddedness. Last but not least, future studies could adopt a longitudinal approach to obtain stronger findings on the hypothesized relationships suggested in the study model.