Thwarted enthusiasm: effects of workplace incivility on newcomer proactive behaviors

Yuanyuan Lan,Shuang Li,Wen Wu,Jiaqi Hui,Yuhuan Xia,Hui Deng

doi:10.1108/cms-05-2019-0167

Yuanyuan Lan, Shuang Li + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1108/cms-05-2019-0167

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Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between supervisor and coworkers’ workplace incivility and newcomer proactive behaviors. Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory, the authors examined resource depletion as a mediator and newcomer proactive personality, as well as their current organizational tenure as moderators of the relationship between workplace incivility toward newcomers and their proactive behaviors.Design/methodology/approachA time-lagged research design was used to test hypotheses with data covering 322 newcomers and their immediate supervisors in two subsidiaries of a large food processing company in China. Regression analysis using the PROCESS macro in SPSS is used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that workplace incivility toward newcomers is negatively related to their proactive behaviors. This relationship is mediated by resource depletion. Furthermore, newcomers’ proactive personality moderates the relationship between workplace incivility and resource depletion. Moreover, both the direct effect of workplace incivility on resource depletion and its indirect effect on newcomer proactive behaviors are moderated by the combination of newcomer proactive personality and their current organizational tenure.Originality/valueDrawing on COR theory, a theoretical framework is constructed that specifies the process through which workplace incivility affects proactive behaviors to expand collective understandings of workplace incivility in the newcomer context. Furthermore, the boundary conditions of the underlying process are investigated, which further enhances the contribution of this paper to the extant literature on workplace incivility.

Highlights

Workplace incivility, defined as “low-intensity deviant behavior with ambiguous intent to harm the target, in violation of workplace norms of mutual respect” (Andersson and Pearson, 1999), is prevalent in the modern world (Cortina and Magley, 2009; Lim and Lee, 2011)
This paper argues that proactive personality weakens the impact of workplace incivility on newcomer proactive behaviors
The results revealed that the six-factor model fit the data well (x 2 = 1480.973, df = 804, Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) = 0.917, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.922, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.051, standardized root mean residual (SRMR) = 0.050) and all factor loadings were significant

Summary

Introduction

Workplace incivility, defined as “low-intensity deviant behavior with ambiguous intent to harm the target, in violation of workplace norms of mutual respect” (Andersson and Pearson, 1999), is prevalent in the modern world (Cortina and Magley, 2009; Lim and Lee, 2011). Research suggests that workplace incivility is harmful in terms of employees’ increased psychological stress (Lim and Cortina, 2005), reduced job performance (Rahim and Cosby, 2016), decreased management effectiveness and increased costs (Porath and Pearson, 2013). Given these results, significant research effort has been devoted to further understanding the nature and impact of workplace incivility. Others have sought to determine the relationship between workplace incivility and employees’ behaviors (Rahim and Cosby, 2016; Fida et al, 2018) or employees’ feelings (Lim et al, 2008; Abubakar, 2018)

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