Workplace incivility: a literature review

The antecedents, drivers and outcomes of employee family incivility in the workplace: A systematic review and future research avenues

Family Incivility has emerged as an important construct that may impact the employee's mental wellbeing and thus affect various organizational outcomes including financial and market related outcomes. The construct however is nascent stage of scholarly research. Thus through a systematic literature review we organise the scholarship till date on the theories, contexts and methods used to explore the construct We also propose a unique framework for employee family incivility and its impact on workplace that identifies and maps the antecedents, drivers and outcomes of family incivility. These two contributions would help both scholars and practitioners in further development of theory and practice. The study follows the PRISMA method for literature review which is an established and rigorous protocol to minimise the errors and biases. That identified 34 articles for the review that were analysed and synthesised for the findings. The third unique and novel contribution of the study is the identification of specific future research questions with reference to employee family incivility and workplace, based on the analysis done in the review.

Impact of despotic leadership and workplace incivility on innovative work behavior of employees: Application of mediation-moderation model

Innovative Work Behavior (IWB) of employees is one of the essential requirements for organizations to excel in competition in today's dynamic world. Nowadays, organizations can keep the current pace through competitive advantage. But to acquire competitive advantage, employees must be creative and innovative in their work-related behaviors. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan are suffering several challenges in this regard. Therefore, current study is designed to examine the role of negative events and negative leadership on the IWB of the employees with mediating role of Psychological Well-being (PsyWB). Further, the moderating role of Perceived Organizational Support (POS) has also been tested. The negative event used in current research is Workplace Incivility (WPI) and Despotic Leadership (DL) from the negative leadership styles examined. Results of the current study showed that the presence of WPI and DL in organizations damage the IWB of employees as they harm the PsyWB of employees. We find that PsyWB mediated the relationship among DL, WPI, and IWB. POS is helpful for employees to overcome the negative issues prevailing in the organizations. The SMEs need to construct policies to eradicate WPI and must discourage despotic personalities to make the environment favorable for employees to protect their IWB. There must be some events that can increase the positive PsyWB of employees to make them more creative and motivated. Likewise, POS must be at sufficient level so that employees feel safe and healthy in all respects.

Authentic Leadership and Psychological Well-Being of Nurses: A Mediated Moderation Model

Aims. This study investigates how authentic leadership influences the psychological well-being of Australian nurses. We examined whether authentic leadership could reduce the prevalence of workplace incivility and tested whether shared values and person-organization (P-O) fit could moderate the relationship between workplace incivility and psychological well-being (PWB). A mediated moderation model underpinned by social learning theory was developed to test the influence of authentic leadership on PWB. Design. We adopted a descriptive correlational research design to test the hypothesized model with a cross-sectional sample of Australian nurses using an online survey. Data were collected across two-waves separated by a six-month interval (N = 230, response rate = 38.3%) to minimize the potential effects of common source bias. The hypotheses were tested using Hayes Process Macro (Model 14) on IBM SPSS. Results. The hypothesized model had good fit indices and supported the mediated moderation model. There was no support for the direct association between authentic leadership and PWB. The supervisor authentic leadership behavior was negatively associated with workplace incivility and PWB. The association between incivility and PWB was positively associated with P-O fit. Nurses with high P-O fit reacted strongly to the positive effect of authentic leadership in reducing workplace incivility, such that they experienced higher levels of PWB. Conclusion. Authentic leadership behavior is important in the healthcare workplace. It reduces workplace incivility and improves PWB for nurses with high levels of congruence. Implications: our study suggests that senior management should deploy strategies through which frontline supervisors can learn and enact authentic leadership behaviors. They will then be better equipped to improve the PWB of their followers by minimizing the prevalence of workplace incivility. Impact: the study found a significant indirect relationship between authentic leadership behavior and psychological well-being, as mediated by workplace incivility and moderated by person-organization fit. The findings highlight the importance of positive leadership behaviors on the well-being outcomes of nurses in Australia.

Does workplace toxicity influence turnover intentions among Indian healthcare employees? Investigating the moderating role of gratitude

PURPOSE

The study examined the relationship between workplace toxicity and turnover intentions among Indian healthcare employees. It also explored the role of gratitude as a moderator in the workplace toxicity-turnover intentions relationship.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

The study is based on a cross-sectional research design. The sample comprises 315 employees from the Indian healthcare sector. Approximately, 400 employees are approached both through email and office visits. Responses were received from 336 participants, and 21 incomplete questionnaires were discarded. The relationships between four variables of workplace toxicity and turnover intentions are examined using correlation and hierarchical regression. The moderation effect of gratitude is studied using the PROCESS macro in SPSS 21.

FINDINGS

The results revealed that workplace toxicity could explain 45.8% variations in employees' turnover intentions. It also reported significant negative regression coefficients between all four dimensions of workplace toxicity and turnover intentions. It suggested that toxic health organizations may promote turnover intentions among healthcare employees. Also, findings recommended a significant moderating effect of gratitude amid the relationships of four dimensions of workplace toxicity and turnover intentions.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Hospital administrators must ensure that health professionals have the necessary support to remain effective in the field by providing a conducive working environment emerging from sound human resource practices that promote respect, collegial relationships, teamwork and collaboration. The present research demonstrates gratitude as one such factor that could act as a catalyst within the workplace. Practitioners could achieve a healthy work environment by developing complementary relief measures that build organizational capacities and improve its culture while sponsoring programs for individual employees that instill positivity through awareness of gratitude in everyday life.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

This study offered a comprehensive understanding of workplace toxicity by investigating its four dimensions. Also, it is one of the pioneer studies that evaluate the role of gratitude in restricting workplace toxicity-induced turnover intentions.

Family incivility and burnout: a moderated mediation model of life satisfaction and psychological capital

Purpose

This study investigates the relationship between family incivility (FI) and burnout in line with the conservation of resources theory and work–home resources model. The authors also examine the conditional indirect effects of psychological capital (PsyCap) and life satisfaction (LS) in the aforementioned relationship. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected using a time-lagged methodological design by administering a structured questionnaire among 296 rural doctors. The collected data were analyzed using PROCESS macro in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 23.

Findings

The study indicates that FI is an emotional home demand and influences burnout at the workplace through the depletion of LS. At the same time, PsyCap proves to be a vital resource that mitigates the adverse effects of FI and burnout.

Research limitations/implications

This study adds to the work–family and well-being literature by exploring the underlying mechanism through which FI connects to different outcomes. The implications of these findings for applications and extension of the work–home resources model to the family domain is elaborated in detail.

Originality/value

This study is among the first to empirically substantiate the long-term adverse consequences of FI and its potential for negatively affecting the work domain by inducing long-term psychological disorder “burnout.”

Workplace Incivility and Employee Performance: Does Trust in Supervisors Matter? (A Dual Theory Perspective)

Employee performance is the backbone of achieving competitiveness and sustainability. This study aims to examine the impact of workplace incivility on employee performance. In addition, trust in supervisors is examined as a mediator. The conservation of resources (COR) theory and Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory provided the grounds for developing the framework. The data were collected through closed-ended questionnaires and were analyzed using structural equation modeling with SmartPLS. The results affirmed that incivility is harmful to the performance of employees, and that trust in supervisors helps employees to perform well. The trust in the supervisor significantly mediates the incivility-performance relationship. The examination of the proposed model through the lens of two theories as well as the study of low-intensity deviant workplace behavior in a collectivist and developing economy are the contributions of this study to the growing body of literature. However, the use of a single sector was one of the limitations of this study.

Perceived workplace incivility and psychological well-being in higher education teachers: a multigroup analysis

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of perceived workplace incivility (WPI) on psychological well-being (PWB) in teachers of higher education and to test for the moderating role of gender and organizational tenure on the relationship between perceived WPI and PWB.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from teachers (N = 341) employed in government and private colleges through convenience sampling. A structural equation modeling technique was used for model testing.

Findings

Results showed a moderate level of perceived WPI by teachers from their colleagues or supervisors. Perceived WPI had a negative impact on PWB. Sixteen percent of the variance in PWB was explained by perceived WPI. Further, the multigroup analysis showed gender to moderate the relationship between perceived WPI and PWB, and this relationship was stronger for males than females. Organizational tenure was not a significant moderator.

Research limitations/implications

These findings expand the literature on perceived WPI and suggest that stringent policies are essential in academia to minimize the incidence of WPI. Additionally, interventions are to be introduced to mitigate the negative outcomes of WPI both at the individual and organizational levels.

Originality/value

The study explores the role of demographic variables (gender and organizational tenure) in the relationship between perceived WPI and PWB in teachers. The empirical evidence suggests higher perceived WPI in male teachers leading to lower PWB. The organizational tenure of an employee shows no influence on the assessment of the stressor.

Antecedents and consequences of knowledge sabotage in the Turkish telecommunication and retail sectors

Purpose

This study aims to propose and test a model explicating the antecedents and consequences of knowledge sabotage.

Design/methodology/approach

Data obtained from 330 employees working in the Turkish retail and telecommunication sectors were analyzed by means of the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling technique.

Findings

Co-worker knowledge sabotage is the key factor driving knowledge sabotage behavior of individual employees, followed by co-worker incivility. Interactional justice suppresses individual knowledge sabotage, while supervisor incivility does not affect it. Co-worker knowledge sabotage reduces job satisfaction of other employees, which, in turn, triggers their voluntary turnover intention. Contrary to a popular belief that perpetrators generally benefit from their organizational misbehavior, the findings indicate that knowledge saboteurs suffer from the consequences of their action because they find it mentally difficult to stay in their current organization. Employees understate their own knowledge sabotage engagement and/or overstate that of others.

Practical implications

Managers should realize that interactional justice is an important mechanism that can thwart knowledge sabotage behavior, promote a civil organizational culture, develop proactive approaches to reduce co-worker incivility and strive towards a zero rate of knowledge sabotage incidents in their organizations. Co-worker incivility and co-worker knowledge sabotage in the workplace are possible inhibitors of intraorganizational knowledge flows and are starting points for job dissatisfaction, which may increase workers’ turnover intention.

Originality/value

This study is among the first to further our knowledge on the cognitive mechanisms linking interactional justice and uncivil organizational behavior with knowledge sabotage and employee outcomes.

How employees leverage psychological capital and perform, even in the presence of rude co-workers: an empirical study from Pakistan

Purpose

This study aims to unpack the link between co-worker incivility and job performance, by detailing a mediating role of psychological detachment and a moderating role of psychological capital.

Design/methodology/approach

The research hypotheses are tested with three-wave, time-lagged data collected from Pakistani-based employees and their supervisors.

Findings

An important reason that disrespectful co-worker treatment curtails job performance, with respect to both in-role and extra-role work efforts, is that employees detach from their work environment. This mediating role of psychological detachment is less salient to the extent that employees possess high levels of psychological capital.

Practical implications

For organizations, this study pinpoints a key mechanism, a propensity to distance oneself from work, by which convictions that co-workers do not show respect direct employees away from productive work activities. This study also shows how this mechanism can be subdued by ensuring that employees exhibit energy-enhancing personal resources.

Originality/value

This study expands extant research on the dark side of interpersonal co-worker relationships by revealing pertinent factors that explain why and when co-worker incivility can escalate into diminished performance-enhancing activities.

Supervisor role overload and emotional exhaustion as antecedents of supervisor incivility: The role of time consciousness

Studies up to great extent have focused on investigating the possible consequences of supervisor incivility in organizations; however, surprisingly very little research has concentrated on its antecedents. Drawing on affective event theory, the aim of this study is to identify how role overload may cause the supervisor behavior uncivil toward their subordinates in the project environment by examining the mediating role of emotional exhaustion and moderating effect of time consciousness. Data were collected from both supervisors and their immediate subordinates from project-based organizations of Pakistan. After data consolidation, the final sample was 296 supervisor–subordinate dyads. The results revealed that supervisor role overload and emotional exhaustion is positively related with supervisor incivility and emotional exhaustion mediates this relationship. Time consciousness moderates the link between supervisor role overload and emotional exhaustion. The practical and theoretical implications of our findings are provided.

Helping others not always helps ourselves: the relationship between victim incivility and emergency workers' burnout through work-to-family conflict

Purpose

This study aims to analyse whether and when victim incivility may be related to work-to-family conflict and then burnout among emergency workers.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 304 Italian emergency workers from five firehouses and six emergency rooms completed questionnaires, examining: victim incivility, work-to-family conflict, social support seeking and burnout symptoms. Descriptive analyses, confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation models were conducted.

Findings

Victim incivility was positively associated with burnout symptoms, both directly and indirectly, as mediated by work-to-family conflict. Additionally, social support seeking exacerbated (rather than mitigated) the impact of work-to-family conflict on burnout symptoms.

Practical implications

Organisations can greatly benefit from implementing family-friendly practices and providing their workers with training programmes on how to deal with difficult victims.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the existing literature on workplace incivility and work–life interface by supporting for the first time the notion that victim incivility can spill over into emergency workers' family domain and by clarifying how and when victim incivility is related to burnout symptoms.

The impact of workplace safety and customer misbehavior on supermarket workers' stress and psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose

Essential frontline workers in the retail sector face increased exposure risks to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to frequent interactions with the general public. Often these interactions are fraught with controversies over public safety protocols. The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of frontline workers' perceptions of workplace safety and customer misbehaviors on their stress and psychological distress to inform managing workplace health and safety during public health crises.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted an online survey of 3,344 supermarket workers in the state of Arizona (US) during the state's first COVID-19 pandemic wave in July 2020. Measures included mental health distress, and perceptions of workplace safety and customer behaviors. The authors utilized a mixed-methods approach combining multiple regression analyses with qualitative analyses of open-ended comments.

Findings

Workers reported high rates of stress and psychological distress. Increases in mental health morbidity were correlated with perceptions of being unsafe in the workplace and concerns about negative customer encounters. Qualitative analyses reveal frustration with management's efforts to reduce risks intertwined with feelings of being unsafe and vulnerable to threatening customer encounters.

Practical implications

The findings highlight the need to provide and enforce clear safety guidelines, including how to manage potential hostile customer interactions, to promote positive health workplace management during a pandemic.

Originality/value

This study is among the first to assess the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the mental health of non-health care frontline essential workers and presents novel insights regarding perceived customer misbehavior and need for management support and guidance in a public health crisis.

Leader negative mood and employee-instigated incivility: the role of mood contagion

Purpose

Given the harmful effects of workplace incivility and the calls for revealing the antecedents of instigated incivility, this study examines how employee-instigated incivility unfolds as a result of negative mood contagion from leaders to employees.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing upon affective events theory, the authors hypothesized that leader negative mood is contagious and has an indirect relationship with employee-instigated incivility through employee negative mood. For hypothesis testing, data were collected from 243 leader-employee dyads and tested using bootstrapped mediation analysis.

Findings

As hypothesized, leader negative mood was associated with employee-instigated incivility indirectly through employee negative mood. This finding supports that negative mood of the leader is contagious and might unintendedly trigger employee-instigated incivility toward other at work.

Research limitations/implications

Given the cross-sectional design of this study, causal inferences could not be drawn. The direction of relationships between the variables is based on the theoretical assumptions, rather than a test of the causal ordering of the variables.

Originality/value

This study advances the limited literature on the antecedents of employee-instigated incivility by demonstrating the impact of negative mood experienced by leaders on uncivil behaviors of employees.

Hospital nurses experiencing day-to-day workplace incivility: A diary study on the benefits of daily social support

AIM

The present study investigated the adverse effects of daily experienced incivility and the positive role of daily social support during the workday in predicting daily emotional exhaustion after work and vitality and positive affect at bedtime.

BACKGROUND

Despite the broad knowledge of the impact of experienced incivility in different occupations, little is known about day-to-day nurse incivility, much less in the hospital context.

METHOD

After completing a general questionnaire, hospital nurses (n = 96) completed a diary questionnaire twice a day for five consecutive workdays (n = 480 diary observations). The diary design had two levels: 5-day repeated measures (Level 1, day level) nested in persons (Level 2, person level) using an experience-sampling methodology.

RESULTS

Multilevel hierarchical analyses showed that incivility during the workday increased emotional exhaustion after work (t = 3.00, p = <0.05) and reduced vitality (t = -2.48, p = 0.05) and positive affect (t = -2.23, p = 0.05) at bedtime. However, daily social support during the workday was a crucial job resource that directly benefited hospital nurses' daily wellbeing (t = 5.19, p = 0.01 vitality; t = 4.89, p = 0.01 positive affect) and buffered the adverse effects of daily workplace incivility (t = -2.33, p = 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The within-person approach of our findings suggests that supportive practices can reduce day-to-day incivility spirals.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Nurse managers can promote a civility culture within their units using in service training programmes at work.