When and why supervisors gravitate toward and away from their psychologically-owned subordinates

Description

Academic discussion on psychological ownership has concentrated on possessive feelings for particular material (e.g., products and spaces) or nonmaterial objects (e.g., ideas and jobs). We suggest that people can also be targets of the extended self. The nature of the supervision role may nourish supervisor psychological ownership over subordinates. The results of a main study and a supplemental study indicate that supervisor psychological ownership over subordinate is positively related to leader–member exchange when subordinate feedback seeking is high, leading to supervisor coaching behavior. Supervisor psychological ownership over subordinate is positively related to psychological contract breach when perceived subordinate interaction avoidance is high, leading to supervisor distancing behavior. The results help explain why certain employees may flourish under certain possessive supervisors and provide insights for employees to strategize their interactions with their possessive supervisor.

Period	25 Jul 2025 → 29 Jul 2025
Held at	2025 Annual conference of Academy of Management (AOM), United States