The moderating effect of emotional intelligence on the relationship between supervisor conflict and employees’ counterproductive work behaviors

Research concludes that supervisor conflict is a primary antecedent of employee counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs). However, previous studies mainly focused on direct supervisor conflict, with indirect supervisor conflict understudied. To fill the research gap, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between indirect supervisor conflict and employee CWBs and the buffering effect of emotional intelligence on indirect supervisor conflict–CWB relationships in two studies.

The study used time-lagged design (Study 1) and longitudinal design (Study 2) with multisource data to test the theoretical model presented in this study.

The positive relationship between indirect supervisor conflict and CWBs were consistently supported with self-report CWBs but not with coworker-report CWBs. SEA and OEA were found to buffer the indirect supervisor conflict–CWB relationships with both self-report and coworker-report CWBs.

The study suggests that while covert and implicit, indirect supervisor conflict could drive employees to engage in CWBs that impose a threat to organization and its members. The emotional-appraisal aspect of emotional intelligence (i.e. SEA and OEA) could help employees to better cope with indirect supervisor conflict and mitigate employees’ engagement in CWBs.