Factors contributing to the perpetration of workplace incivility: the importance of organizational aspects and experiencing incivility from others

摘要

In recent years a growing amount of research has been conductedin the area of workplace incivility. Whereas many studies havefocused on the victims and the consequences of incivility, littleattention has been paid to the perpetrators and antecedents ofworkplace incivility. This study aims to identify possibleantecedents of workplace incivility, by investigating organizationalaspects as well as the possibility that being the target of incivilityfrom co-workers and supervisors could induce incivility. A total of512 employees (378 women and 133 men) in the school sector ina Swedish municipality completed an online questionnaire.Overall, the results of structural equation modelling analysesshowed that organizational variables were related to theperpetration of incivility. A direct relationship was found betweenbeing uncivil and organizational change, job insecurity, low socialsupport from co-workers and high job demands. However, thestrongest relationship was found between experienced incivilityfrom co-workers and instigated incivility. This could be reflecting aclimate or culture of incivility in the organization, and carryimplications for future practice in interventions against workplaceincivility. The results indicate the importance of focusing on theperspective of the instigator to gain knowledge about the processof workplace incivility.