Incivility hates company: Shared incivility attenuates rumination, stress, and psychological withdrawal by reducing self-blame

The indirect relations of workplace incivility with emotional exhaustion and supportive behaviors via self‐blame: The moderating roles of observed incivility and trait emotional control

“…These results provide support for the allegation that self‐blame can potentially allow targets to perceive self‐responsibility for improving their predicament (Janoff‐Bulman, ), and when coupled with high emotional control can galvanize employees into reacting in a prosocial manner toward their coworkers. Importantly, our findings extend prior research that has generally portrayed targets of workplace incivility as passive recipients of mistreatment who eventually succumb to emotional distress (Schilpzand, Leavitt, & Lim, ) or engage in withdrawal behavior or hostile responses such as retaliating or behaving in an uncivil manner to innocent others (Foulk et al, ; Gallus et al, ; Rosen et al, ).…”

“…By drawing from the social cognitive theory of self‐regulation (Bandura, ), we managed to pinpoint targets' belief in their capability, represented by trait emotional control, as a potential moderator for qualifying the positive relation of self‐blame with subsequent supportive behaviors. This demonstrates trait emotional control as a capacity for reining in the detrimental emotions typically associated with self‐blame that may otherwise lead to emotional exhaustion or antisocial responses (Schilpzand, Leavitt, & Lim, ; Zhou, Yan, Che, & Meier, ), thus offering insights into the long‐time puzzle of when self‐blame can have motivational properties and be related to better coping (i.e., less emotional exhaustion) and, unconventionally, a prosocial reaction (i.e., exhibiting supportive behaviors). These results provide support for the allegation that self‐blame can potentially allow targets to perceive self‐responsibility for improving their predicament (Janoff‐Bulman, ), and when coupled with high emotional control can galvanize employees into reacting in a prosocial manner toward their coworkers.…”

“…Applying the social cognitive theory of self‐regulation to shed light on this, self‐referenced evaluations, such as attributing blame to oneself, are associated with “emotional effects that can undermine performance motivation and psychological well‐being” (Bandura, , p. 273). Indeed, past empirical research established the links of self‐blame with negative well‐being and behavioral outcomes such as increased stress, decreased helpfulness, poorer performance, and greater withdrawal (e.g., Porath & Erez, ; Schilpzand, Leavitt, & Lim, ). This contrasting negative effect is likely driven by the fact that self‐blame encompasses both cognitive and affective components (Garnefski et al, ; Peterson et al, ).…”

“…Targets of incivility who experience self‐blame are likely to be engulfed by deleterious emotions such as shame, anxiety, and guilt (Janoff‐Bulman, ). Both the experience of incivility and self‐blame are highly emotionally taxing (Cortina et al, ; Cortina & Magley, ; Schilpzand, Leavitt, & Lim, ), making emotional exhaustion, a state of fatigue due to emotional overextension (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, ), a likely consequence for them. Emotional exhaustion is experienced when employees are incapable of coping with excessive emotional demands due to limited emotional resources (Wright & Cropanzano, ) and is related to somatic symptoms such as headaches and sleep disturbances (Belcastro & Hays, ), and negative work outcomes such as the poorer job performance and greater turnover (Wright & Cropanzano, ).…”

“…Despite its low intensity, workplace incivility has high incidence in the workplace, with as much as 71% of employees reporting to have experienced uncivil behaviors at work within a 5‐year period (Cortina, Magley, Williams, & Langhout, ). Research commonly associated the experience of workplace incivility with both psychological and behavioral detriments for the targets, such as the experience of greater anxiety and depression (Lim, Cortina, & Magley, ), and the exhibition of similar ill‐mannered behaviors (Foulk, Woolum, & Erez, ; Gallus, Bunk, Matthews, Barnes‐Farrell, & Magley, ; Rosen, Koopman, Gabriel, & Johnson, ) or withdrawal behaviors (Schilpzand, Leavitt, & Lim, ; Sliter, Sliter, & Jex, ). These findings reinforced incivility as a highly unfavorable relational phenomenon in the workplace.…”