Differential perceptions of psychological entitlement and the mediating role of counterproductive workplace behavior: A team manager’s emotional exhaustion, abusive supervision, and team cohesion

Abstract: This study explores the mechanism behind the psychological entitlement that induces emotional exhaustion and abusive supervision among team managers and lowers team cohesion. Entitled employees acquire distorted expectations of rewards, and these expectations limit to experience fulfillment in an organization, leading to negative behavior. Drawing on attribution theory and conservation of resources theory, we examine the relationships among members’ psychological entitlement, counterproductive workplace behavior, team managers’ emotional exhaustion and abusive supervision, and team cohesion by collecting survey responses in two studies. In the first study, which assumes the perspective of team managers, team members’ psychological entitlement was positively related to counterproductive workplace behavior. Psychological entitlement also had an indirect effect on team managers’ emotional exhaustion and team cohesion through counterproductive workplace behavior. In the second study, which was conducted from the perspective of team members, counterproductive workplace behavior was influenced by team managers’ abusive supervision. To verify the differential perception of psychological entitlement, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of psychological entitlement and counterproductive workplace behavior in organizations, as well research limitations and directions for future studies.