Investigating individual differences among targets of workplace incivility.

The present study focused on individual differences in Big Five traits among targets of workplace incivility. The authors hypothesized a negative relation between agreeableness and incivility, a positive relation between neuroticism and incivility, and a negative relation between extraversion and incivility. The authors also hypothesized that provocative target behavior is the mediating force that drives these relations. Multisource data from a diverse sample of employees and their coworkers indicate that individuals low in agreeableness and those high in neuroticism experience more incivility than their counterparts. The mediation model was supported for agreeableness and neuroticism. Findings suggest that target traits are important components in incivility research, and should be considered in future research as well as in efforts to alleviate the consequences of incivility.

The economy and absenteeism: a macro-level study.

Despite much speculation, little is known about the net effects of the economy on the employed workforce. To fill this gap, we used state-level data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to examine the effects of the condition of the economy, as indicated by the unemployment rate, on incidence rates of absence reportedly due to symptoms of illness and violent acts in the workplace for 43 states from 1992 to 2009. Our results suggest that the unemployment rate is positively associated with these indicators of absenteeism, and that these effects are delayed in time.

Can counterproductive work behaviors be productive? CWB as emotion-focused coping.

The goal of our study was to determine whether some forms of counterproductive work behavior (CWB) may serve to benefit employees. Building on the stressor-strain framework and theories of coping, we investigated whether two forms of CWB, production deviance and withdrawal, serve as a means of coping to mitigate the impact of low distributive and procedural justice on emotional exhaustion. Results from a survey of 295 employed persons from around the United States suggest that production deviance and withdrawal may benefit employees by reducing emotional exhaustion in the face of low distributive justice but not necessarily low procedural justice.

The downside of goal-focused leadership: the role of personality in subordinate exhaustion.

Exhaustion has a significant impact on employees and organizations, and leader behavior may affect it. We applied conservation of resources theory to test propositions regarding the joint effects of goal-focused leadership (GFL) and personality on employee exhaustion. We proposed that the relationship between GFL and exhaustion depends on employees' standing on both conscientiousness and emotional stability. Specifically, we expected that high-conscientiousness subordinates experience greater compatibility with a goal-focused leader because of their predisposition to direct resources toward achievement and goal setting, resulting in lower exhaustion under such a leader than among low-conscientiousness employees. Furthermore, high emotional stability may compensate for GFL incompatibility among low-conscientiousness employees by providing additional resources to manage GFL. In contrast, employees low on both traits likely experience greater exhaustion under a goal-focused leader compared with other employees. Results revealed a 3-way interaction in 2 independent samples and were generally supportive of our predictions. GFL was associated with heightened exhaustion among individuals in the low-emotional-stability, low-conscientiousness group but not among workers having any other trait combination.