Lingering shadows: the negative effects of incivility on volunteers

Abstract

When faced with incivility from service recipients, do volunteers feel damaged? As few previous studies have explored this issue, this study uses the conservation of resources theory to investigate the mechanisms through which incivility affects volunteer engagement and burnout, based on three-wave survey data from 1675 volunteers. This study develops a moderated mediation model to examine the effect of incivility on volunteer outcomes. We find that incivility affected volunteers’ subsequent outcomes, reducing engagement and increasing volunteer burnout by lowering volunteers’ psychological detachment. Volunteers’ hostile attribution bias played a moderating role, amplifying the negative impact of incivility on psychological detachment. Hostile attribution bias also enhanced the mediating effect of incivility on volunteer engagement and increased volunteer burnout by reducing psychological detachment. Besides developing a moderated mediation model, this study also proposes that managers should pay attention to strengthening volunteer training and providing psychological counseling to improve psychological detachment for volunteers experienced with incivility from service recipients.