Extant research on abusive supervision (i.e., subordinates' perceptions of the extent to which supervisors engage in the sustained display of hostile verbal and nonverbal behaviors, excluding physical contact; Tepper, 2000) posits that supervisors will strategically behave abusively (e.g., Huai, Lian, Farh, & Wang, 2024) and argues that it can occur at the group level in the form of abusive supervision climate (Priesemuth, Schminke, Ambrose, & Folger, 2014). However, little or no attention has so far been paid to supervisors' strategic use of abusive supervision climate in group settings. We introduce the concept of strategic abusive supervision climate, defined as acts of abuse toward the group as a whole that are thoughtful, deliberate, and driven by leaders' goals. Drawing on the theory of strategic self-presentation (Jones & Pittman, 1982), we examine how and when poor group performance may lead to strategic abusive supervision climate. Specifically, we conceptualize poor group performance as signaling failure regarding leaders' facilitating individual and collective efforts. We theorize that, under certain circumstances, poor group performance may elicit supervisors' perceptions of threat to their leadership ability, and then tackle poor group performance and try to manage their impressions by strategically using abusive supervision climate that gives the attribution of being a competent leader. Specifically, we propose that such a dynamic is more likely to ensue when supervisors are otherwise highly concerned about their reputation maintenance (i.e., reputation maintenance concerns). To provide support for our reasoning, we collected multi-wave data (i.e., three time points with one month in between) from 158 supervisors in Taiwan. Last, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings and directions for future research.