Career plateau and counterproductive work behaviour: a moderated moderation model of abusive supervision and job embeddedness

Purpose Drawing upon the social identity theory (SIT), the present study aims to examine the moderating role of abusive supervision (AS) and job embeddedness (JE) in the relationship between career plateau (CP) and counterproductive work behaviour (CWB). The research also aims to investigate whether JE moderated the moderating effect of AS on the CP–CWB relationship. Design/methodology/approach The hypotheses were tested with two-wave survey data collected from 290 employees working in India’s banking, financial services and insurance sector. Data were analysed using moderation and moderated moderation analyses on PROCESS v 4.1 macro. Findings Results showed that AS moderated the CP–CWB relationship, whereas the moderating role of JE was not observed. However, JE was seen to moderate the moderating effect of AS, supporting the moderated moderation framework. Research limitations/implications The present study adds value to the existing literature by connecting SIT with hierarchical layers. The supervisor themselves may stay longer in their current positions and block the subordinates’ progress. This impacts the social image of the subordinates. The study enriches the CP literature by highlighting that CP may lead to CWB, as the employees who perceive CP hit back at the organisation for being unfairly treated and not getting the career progression due to their supervisor. Practical implications The study provides important implications for the supervisors who need to introspect if their behaviour is viewed as abusive by the career-plateaued employees. They need to mentor the employees, especially those with higher career aspirations, and provide them with various career avenues. Furthermore, organisations should make all possible efforts to embed the employees within their jobs as the embedded employees can better take the shock of CP. Originality/value Drawing on the SIT, the study contributes uniquely to the employee behaviour literature by investigating the impact of CP, AS and JE on CWB in hierarchically flatter organisations. This is the first study to investigate the moderated moderation model of AS and JE in the CP–CWB relationship in the context of employees’ social status within the organisation.