Abusive supervision, emotional exhaustion, and quiet quitting: a moderated mediation model of political skill

Purpose Drawing on conservation of resources theory, this study investigates how abusive supervision affects employees' quiet quitting through emotional exhaustion, employing a moderated mediation model. Design/methodology/approach This study used a three-wave data collection design with a sample of employees working in various industries in Vietnam. To test the proposed hypotheses, hierarchical regression was employed, and mediation as well as moderated mediation were analyzed using bootstrapping techniques implemented via the PROCESS macro. Findings This study indicates that political skill weakens the positive association between abusive supervision and employees' emotional exhaustion, and also mitigates the negative indirect effect of abusive supervision on quiet quitting. Originality/value These findings deepen our understanding of the antecedents of quiet quitting. Furthermore, this study contributes to the literature by clarifying the moderating role of political skill in the relationship between abusive supervision and emotional exhaustion, as well as its subsequent effect on quiet quitting. Based on the validated results, the implications of this research for academics and managers are discussed.