Change of heart, change of mind, or change of willpower? Explaining the dynamic relationship between experienced and perpetrated incivility change.

As organizational scholarship increasingly recognizes the dynamic nature of interpersonal stressors like workplace incivility, the present study investigates workplace incivility change and the mechanisms through which it affects employees. Whereas prior research demonstrates that employees who experience workplace incivility are likely to engage in similar behavior because of depleted self-control, the current investigation draws on Metcalfe and Mischel's (1999) dual-process model to examine additional affective and cognitive mechanisms underlying this dynamic process. We propose that interceding changes in negative affect and cognitive rumination also mediate the dynamic relationship between experienced and perpetrated incivility change. We test our predictions using latent change score modeling with data from 481 employees surveyed four times across 3 months. Results show that the relationship between experienced and perpetrated incivility change is driven by a change in negative affect and that the dynamic indirect effect via negative affect change is moderated by individual differences in psychological detachment. Implications for science and practice are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Beyond targets and instigators: Examining workplace incivility in dyads and the moderating role of perceived incivility norms.

In the 2 decades since Andersson and Pearson (Academy of Management Review, 24, 452, 1999) suggested workplace incivility occurs in dyadic relationships between two employees, research has only studied incivility from the perspective of either the target or the instigator. In doing so, it implicitly treats experienced and instigated incivility as though they solely reflect (viz., dispositional and situational) characteristics of targets and instigators, ignoring that incivility is also attributable to the unique relationship between dyad members. The present study draws on the norm of reciprocity to examine workplace incivility in dyadic relationships and how it differs across individuals. Using dyads as the unit of analysis, we test our predictions among employees at a U.S. restaurant chain (Sample 1); a technology manufacturer in China (Sample 2); and across a range of industries, organizations, and jobs in the U.S. (Sample 3). We find that experienced and instigated incivility exhibit substantial variation at the dyad level, that the two are related within dyads after accounting for individuals' general tendencies to experience and instigate incivility, and that the within-dyad association between experienced and instigated incivility is moderated by perceived descriptive and injunctive norms regarding uncivil behavior. Implications and future research directions are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

How a gratitude intervention influences workplace mistreatment: A multiple mediation model.

Despite wide-ranging negative consequences of interpersonal mistreatment, research offers few practical solutions to reduce such behavior in organizations. Given that interpersonal relationships are strengthened and desired employee behaviors are more frequent when individuals purposefully cultivate feelings of gratitude, the present study tests the effectiveness of a 10-day gratitude journaling intervention in reducing workplace incivility, gossip, and ostracism. Because research has not examined the mechanisms by which gratitude interventions influence outcomes, we draw on theory and research from the gratitude literature to propose and test a multiple mediator model. Specifically, we examine the moral affect theory of gratitude, find-remind-and-bind theory, self-regulation theory, and social exchange theory as possible explanations for the effects of the intervention. Two field experiments involving 147 (Study 1) and 204 (Study 2) employees demonstrated that the intervention decreased mistreatment (as reported by coworkers) by enhancing self-control resources. We also found that the effects of the intervention were stronger for individuals who perceive higher norms for gratitude in their workplace. The findings support the resource-building nature of gratitude interventions and demonstrate that a gratitude intervention is one effective way to decrease interpersonal mistreatment in organizations. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

When challenges hinder: An investigation of when and how challenge stressors impact employee outcomes.

Over the past two decades, accumulating evidence has indicated that individuals experience challenge and hindrance stressors in qualitatively different ways, with the former being linked to more positive outcomes than the latter. Indeed, challenge stressors are believed to have net positive effects even though they can also lead to a range of strains, eliciting beliefs that managers can enhance performance outcomes by increasing the frequency of challenge stressors experienced in the workplace. The current article questions this conventional wisdom by developing theory that explains how different patterns of challenge stressor exposure influence employee outcomes. Across 2 field studies, our results supported our theory, indicating that when challenge stressors vary across time periods, they have negative indirect effects on employee performance and well-being outcomes. In contrast, when employees experience a stable pattern of challenge stressors across time periods, they have positive indirect effects on employee performance and well-being outcomes. These results, which suggest that the benefits of challenge stressors may not outweigh their costs when challenge stressors fluctuate, have important implications for theory and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

How leaders perceive employee deviance: Blaming victims while excusing favorites.

Drawing from theories of attribution and perception, we posit that employees who are victims of rudeness are themselves (inappropriately) evaluated by leaders as being interpersonally deviant. We further theorize that employees who are themselves rude to others at work are evaluated negatively, but not when they have high-quality relationships with leaders or are seen as high performers. We tested our predictions across 4 studies. Our first study included 372 leader-follower pairs. Our second study extended to dyadic interactions among employees by using an employee roster method, resulting in paired data from 149 employees (2,184 dyads) across 5 restaurant locations. Our third and fourth studies utilized a policy-capturing design in which individuals provided performance evaluations for fictitious employees. We find that victims of rudeness are viewed by leaders as deviant, and that leaders are less likely to perceive rude employees as deviant when these perpetrators are seen as having high levels of leader-member exchange (LMX) or performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Breaking the cycle of abusive supervision: How disidentification and moral identity help the trickle-down change course.

Studies show that abusive leader behaviors "trickle down" to lower organizational levels, but this research ignores that many abused supervisors do not perpetuate abuse by harming their own subordinates. Drawing on social-cognitive theory and related research, we suggest abused supervisors might defy rather than emulate their managers' abusive behavior. Specifically, we predicted that some abused supervisors-namely, those with strong moral identities-might in effect "change course" by engaging in less abuse or demonstrating ethical leadership with their subordinates to the extent they disidentify with their abusive managers. Across 2 experiments (n = 288 and 462 working adults, respectively) and a field study (n = 500 employees and their supervisors), we show that relations between manager abuse and supervisors' abusive and ethical behaviors were carried by supervisors' disidentification, and that the direct and indirect effects of manager abuse were stronger for supervisors with comparatively higher moral identity levels. We discuss our findings' implications and avenues for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

A self-regulatory perspective of work-to-home undermining spillover/crossover: Examining the roles of sleep and exercise.

Research demonstrating that employees who are undermined at work engage in similar behavior at home suggests this connection reflects displaced aggression. In contrast, the present study draws on self-regulation theory to examine the work-home undermining spillover/crossover process. We propose that poor sleep quality transmits the influence of workplace undermining to home undermining per self-regulatory impairment, and exercise moderates this indirect effect per self-regulatory improvement. Using matched data from 118 employees and a member of their household to test our model, results demonstrated that undermining experienced from supervisors increased subjective (i.e., self-reported) but not objective (i.e., actigraph-recorded) sleep difficulties, which, in turn, increased the frequency with which individuals engaged in undermining at home (as reported by cohabitants). Additionally, indirect effects occurred for employees with low but not high levels of physical exercise (as measured by self-reports, step counts, and energy expenditure). Our findings suggest sleep and exercise may serve as valuable intervention points to prevent the spread of harmful behavior across contexts. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Linking perceptions of role stress and incivility to workplace aggression: the moderating role of personality.

Although research on workplace aggression has long recognized job stressors as antecedents, little is known about the process through which employee responses to stressful workplace demands escalate from relatively mild interactions into more intense behaviors. This study investigates the influence that employees' perceptions of role stress (ambiguity, conflict, overload) have on their aggressive behavior by affecting their perceptions of incivility, and whether these downstream effects depend on personality traits (neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness). Results supported moderated mediation, such that the indirect effects of perceived role ambiguity and role conflict on enacted aggression through experienced incivility varied according to individual differences in personality.

An empirical investigation of dispositional antecedents and performance-related outcomes of credit scores.

Many organizations use credit scores as an employment screening tool, but little is known about the legitimacy of such practices. To address this important gap, the reported research conceptualized credit scores as a biographical measure of financial responsibility and investigated dispositional antecedents and performance-related outcomes. Using personality data collected from employees, objective credit scores obtained from the Fair Isaac Corporation, and performance data provided by supervisors, we found conscientiousness to be positively related and agreeableness to be negatively related to credit scores. Results also indicate significant relationships between credit scores and task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. Credit scores did not, however, predict workplace deviance. Implications for organizations currently using or planning to use credit scores as part of the screening process are discussed.