Ever felt like your boss gets a kick out of yelling at you? New research has shown that bosses may satisfy an "emotional need" and reap psychological "benefits" from yelling at their employees to boost performance and reinforce their status as the boss.
The new study by the University of Georgia (UGA), published this month in the Journal of Management, suggests that these abusive behaviors "provide a temporary sense of fulfilment," the researchers said.
The study found that "supervisors' daily motives for abusive behaviors matter, given that certain motives actually yield short-term benefits for supervisors."
Previous research on "bad bosses" has centered around those who snap at workers due to stress or exhaustion but not those who actively choose to engage in abusive behavior.
Current research assumes that bosses "feel bad after engaging in abusive behaviors," the scientists note. However, the team said, "we challenge this assumption by proposing that supervisors' motives of abusive supervision shape their post-abuse experiences."
"Drawing on the social interactionist theory of aggression and theories of self-regulation, we suggest that instrumental (or goal-driven) abusive behaviors provide a temporary sense of fulfillment, whereas spontaneous (or reactive, emotionally-driven) abusive behaviors diminish need satisfaction and foster negative outcomes," the researchers wrote.
The study, which surveyed hundreds of supervisors across various fields of work, reported some bosses saying that they yelled at employees due to feeling burnout or overwhelmed.
However, a significant portion admitted to abusing their employees to get them to follow orders or show them who is in charge.
Those who yelled due to burnout felt guilty or worse afterward. But those who did it to get employees to perform or to reinforce their role as the boss felt better afterward, as if it were an accomplishment.
"If they engage in these behaviors with a goal in mind, like boosting compliance or preserving their identity as leaders, they're satisfying an emotional need," Szu-Han (Joanna) Lin, a co-author of the study who is a professor at UGA's Terry College of Business, said in a statement.
She explained: "If my followers have poor performance and I yell at them to increase compliance, then I feel like I achieved something in the short term. If I lash out because I'm tired, I won't feel any satisfaction."
Lin stressed the importance of providing better leadership tools to prevent abuse in the workplace. She said: "you may want your followers to listen to you or you may want to make sure you establish your role as a leader. That's fine, but there are other ways to achieve that."
"If you engage in abusive behaviors, it will always lead to negative outcomes. No one will be motivated at all," she warned, noting that "leaders need to acknowledge this is happening if we want them to develop better tools and tactics."
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Reference
Lin, S.-H. (Joanna), Poulton, E. C., & Johnson, R. E. (2025). Short-Term Fulfillment: How Supervisors' Motives for Abusive Behaviors Influence Need Satisfaction and Daily Outcomes. Journal of Management. https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063251331910
