This research investigated the hypothesis that the level of undermining perceived within the work group would moderate the relationship between individual perceptions of supervisor undermining and employee outcomes (e.g., well-being and employee deviance). Drawing on social information processing, counterfactual thinking, and referent cognition theory, it was predicted that the relationship between individual undermining perceptions and outcomes would be stronger when there was a corresponding low level of group-perceived supervisor undermining. This two-way interaction prediction was supported for several outcomes among a large sample (N=737) from the national police force in the Republic of Slovenia and replicated among a sample of soldiers (N=381) from the U.S. Army National Guard. Implications of the research and future research directions are addressed. Research consistently demonstrates that interpersonal relationships and interactions are critical determinants of employees' attitudes, behaviors, and well being. Historically, this research focused on positive social relationships (e.g., social support), but recently more attention has been given to negative social interactions (O'Leary-Kelly, Duffy, & Griffin, 2000). This body of research suggests that negative interactions are consistently related to critical workplace and personal outcomes (e.g., see Tepper, 2000) and are often more potent predictors that positive interactions. In our previous research (Duffy, Ganster, & Pagon, 2002), we investigated the effects of a specific,form of negative interpersonal behavior, social undermining, on an array of individual outcomes including organizational commitment, psychological and physical health, and behavioral intentions. In that study, we found that: 1) perceptions of supervisor and coworker undermining were strongly associated with employee outcomes; 2) undermining was more strongly related to outcomes than social support;, and-3) that social support exacerbated the negative effects of undermining when support and undermining came from the same source (e.g., supervisors). While informative, this study (and others like it) is limited in that it only begins to open the black box - i.e., it falls short of exploring how being the target of negative social interactions is experienced in light of the undermining experience of others in the work group. We begin this process here. The primary objective of this paper is to explore the interactive effects of individual-level supervisor undermining perceptions and group-perceived perceptions of supervisor undermining in relating to employee outcomes.
