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<p>While negative feedback is an indispensable tool for performance management, its inherent evaluative nature poses a significant perceptual risk to the supervisor-subordinate interaction. Drawing on self-discrepancy theory and the affect-cognition literature, this research investigates how supervisors’ negative feedback-giving behavior can be subjectively reconstructed by employees as abusive supervision. Through two experimental studies (N<sub>1</sub> = 140; N<sub>2</sub> = 180) in China and one three-wave questionnaire survey (N<sub>3</sub> = 256) in the UK, we demonstrate that negative feedback triggers an actual-ought self-discrepancy, which specifically elevates subordinate anxiety (rather than guilt or fear). This affective reaction functions as a mechanism of defensive sense-making, leading subordinates to perceive supervisory abuse. Furthermore, trait mindfulness is identified as a critical boundary condition: individuals high in mindfulness are better able to decouple the evaluative threat from their self-concept, thereby mitigating the feedback-anxiety linkage and the subsequent perception of abuse. By shifting the focus from supervisor delivery to the psychological processes triggered by feedback’s evaluative essence, this study advances our understanding of the perception of supervisory abuse and provides practical insights for managing the feedback paradox in organizations.</p>

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Will negative feedback lead to perceptions of supervisory abuse?

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月25日

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  • Haizhen Wang,
  • Wenjing Guo,
  • Angela J. Xu

摘要

While negative feedback is an indispensable tool for performance management, its inherent evaluative nature poses a significant perceptual risk to the supervisor-subordinate interaction. Drawing on self-discrepancy theory and the affect-cognition literature, this research investigates how supervisors’ negative feedback-giving behavior can be subjectively reconstructed by employees as abusive supervision. Through two experimental studies (N1 = 140; N2 = 180) in China and one three-wave questionnaire survey (N3 = 256) in the UK, we demonstrate that negative feedback triggers an actual-ought self-discrepancy, which specifically elevates subordinate anxiety (rather than guilt or fear). This affective reaction functions as a mechanism of defensive sense-making, leading subordinates to perceive supervisory abuse. Furthermore, trait mindfulness is identified as a critical boundary condition: individuals high in mindfulness are better able to decouple the evaluative threat from their self-concept, thereby mitigating the feedback-anxiety linkage and the subsequent perception of abuse. By shifting the focus from supervisor delivery to the psychological processes triggered by feedback’s evaluative essence, this study advances our understanding of the perception of supervisory abuse and provides practical insights for managing the feedback paradox in organizations.