Workplace incivility antecedents and outcomes-implications on HR practices

Abstract

Counterproductive and deviant behavior at the workplace can take many forms from rudeness to bullying to abusive supervision to even violence. In the recent decade, there has been a lot of research on the antecedents and outcomes of these deviant workplace behaviors. The central concept of this study, workplace incivility, is understood as any low-intensity interpersonal behavior that is against the organizational norms for respect, with an ambiguous intent to harm the target. Workplace incivility as a theoretical construct was introduced twenty years back and most of the research thereon has focused on differentiating it from similar constructs as well as understanding its consequences on employee and organizational behavior. Common examples include demeaning someone, talking in unprofessional language, talking too loudly in a public place, gossiping, invading personal privacy, purposely ignoring someone, excessively interrupting a colleague during a meeting, etc. These deviant acts of behavior are quite ubiquitous in the global workplaces. On the surface it may seem that these innocuous acts of mistreatment can be disregarded as random acts of unpleasantness. However, over time, when such behaviors become the norm rather than the exception, they create a deeper problem for managers and organizations. The present study examines how Indian employees make sense of the concept of workplace incivility as well as their perceptions on the effectiveness of HR practices. The study used a mixed methods approach to understand the relationship between employee perceptions of effectiveness of HR practices of staffing, rewards, training, performance management, career development, and grievance resolution, and incidence of incivility in the workplace as well the effects on the normative, affective, and continuance forms of organizational commitment. The findings of the research have significant implications for researchers as well as HR practitioners. The study contributes in furthering the conceptual understanding of workplace incivility. The data collected through focussed group discussions as well as semi-structured interviews provides credence to the responses collected through surveys. The study also provides insights into critical measurement issues with the present incivility scale, cultural differences to uncivil behaviors with respect to India, as well as elicits further discussion on how appropriate implementation of HR practices can act as a deterrent for disrespectful, unprofessional, and rude behaviour in the workplace.