The Effects of Supervisors' Verbal Aggressiveness and Mentoring on Their Subordinates

Abstract

This study examined the association between supervisors’ mentoring and verbal aggression and their subordinates’ perceived communication satisfaction, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. The findings of the 200 full-time working adults who participated in the study supported prior research indicating positive relationships between mentoring behaviors by supervisors and their subordinates’ communication satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction, and negative relationships between supervisors’ verbal aggression and their subordinates’ communication satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. Results of a regression analysis indicated that supervisors’ verbal aggression was a greater negative predictor of subordinates’ outcomes than was mentoring a positive predictor, supporting the presence of a negativity bias in the supervisor-subordinate relationship. Additionally, path analysis indicated that communication satisfaction fully mediated the relationship between supervisor mentoring and subordinate organizational commitment, whereas communication satisfaction served as a suppressor between mentoring and subordinate job satisfaction.