When do subordinates' emotion-regulation strategies matter? Abusive supervision, subordinates' emotional exhaustion, and work withdrawal

Drawing upon conservation of resources theory, this research examines the linkage between abusive supervision and work withdrawal from a stress perspective, focusing on the moderating role of subordinates' emotion-regulation strategies and the mediating role of emotional exhaustion. Survey data included 254 ranked officers in 55 workgroups of the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense. The HLM results suggest that subordinates' emotional exhaustion mediated the relationship between abusive supervision and work withdrawal only when subordinates engaged in high-frequency expressive suppression or low-frequency cognitive reappraisal. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.