Effect of Workplace Incivility on End-of-Work Negative Affect: Examining Individual and Organizational Moderators in a Daily Diary Study

• Published in: Journal of occupational health psychology Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 117 - 130
• Main Authors: Zhou, Zhiqing E., Yan, Yu, Che, Xin Xuan, Meier, Laurenz L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Educational Publishing Foundation 01-01-2015
• Subjects: Adult; Attribution; China; Employee Characteristics; Employee Interaction; Female; Health Surveys; Hostility; Human; Humans; Incivility; Internal External Locus of Control; Internal-External Control; Interpersonal Relations; Job Satisfaction; Linear Models; Male; Middle Aged; Occupational Stress; Organizational Behavior; Organizational Characteristics; Organizational Culture; Personal Satisfaction; Personality; Self Concept; Stress, Psychological; Work Load; Workload - psychology; Workplace - psychology; Young Adult; China; stressor; personality; negative affect; diary study; workplace incivility
• ISSN: 1076-8998; 1939-1307
• DOI: 10.1037/a0038167

Although previous studies have linked workplace incivility with various negative outcomes, they mainly focused on the long-term effects of chronic exposure to workplace incivility, whereas targets' short-term reactions to incivility episodes have been largely neglected. Using a daily diary design, the current study examined effects of daily workplace incivility on end-of-work negative affect and explored potential individual and organizational moderators. Data collected from 76 full-time employees across 10 consecutive working days revealed that daily workplace incivility positively predicted end-of-work negative affect while controlling for before-work negative affect. Further, the relationship was stronger for people with low emotional stability, high hostile attribution bias, external locus of control, and people experiencing low chronic workload and more chronic organizational constraints, as compared with people with high emotional stability, low hostile attribution bias, internal locus of control, and people experiencing high chronic workload and fewer chronic organizational constraints, respectively.