What is Workplace Incivility? An Investigation of Relational Schemas (WITHDRAWN)

Abstract

Stemming from the recognition that we know little about how employees make sense of incivility at work, this qualitative study investigated relational schemas of workplace incivility to refine our theoretical understanding of the incivility construct and begin collecting data to support development of applied interventions. To do so, 205 currently employed American MTurk respondents completed online surveys asking open-ended questions about various schematic features of workplace incivility and normative questions about how they believe incivility should be properly addressed in the workplace. Phenomenological methodology was utilized. Workplace incivility was defined in relational schemas similar to current scholarly conceptualizations, but respondents’ examples of prototypical incivility spanned all manner of minor to severe forms of mistreatment. Perpetrators, targets, bystanders, and interveners were identified as the primary roles engaged with incivility. Beyond these schemas, respondents also overwhelmingly called for active prevention and intervention against workplace incivility, spearheaded primarily by their organizational leadership. Researchers should take note of results indicating construct proliferation concerns in the workplace mistreatment literature, while practitioners should consider the role of organizational leadership in preventing and addressing incivility in the workplace.