Abstract
The current dominant measure of abusive supervision, the Abusive Supervision Questionnaire (ASQ, Tepper, 2000), was evaluated. The results suggested that the measure lacked differentiation from four other related workplace mistreatment constructs, based upon construct definitions. The items in the ASQ were also not considered as reflecting only supervisor behaviors. Based on an analysis of open-end questions and related literature on workplace mistreatment and other types of abusive relationships, a new definition of abusive supervision was proposed. The new definition improved the old definition by capturing supervisor behavior instead of subordinate evaluation, including physical acts, and developing a two-by-two typology of abusive supervisor behaviors. Differentiating along a people-related vs. work-related dimension and a commission vs. omission dimension, a multidimensional measure of the Abusive Supervisor Behavioral Scale (ASBS) was developed. The content validity, reliability, and factor structure of the 30-item scale were supported. Preliminary support for convergent validity, discriminant validity, and criterion validity of the ASBS was also provided.