Supervisor role overload and emotional exhaustion as antecedents of supervisor incivility: The role of time consciousness

Abstract

Studies up to great extent have focused on investigating the possible consequences of supervisor incivility in organizations; however, surprisingly very little research has concentrated on its antecedents. Drawing on affective event theory, the aim of this study is to identify how role overload may cause the supervisor behavior uncivil toward their subordinates in the project environment by examining the mediating role of emotional exhaustion and moderating effect of time consciousness. Data were collected from both supervisors and their immediate subordinates from project-based organizations of Pakistan. After data consolidation, the final sample was 296 supervisor–subordinate dyads. The results revealed that supervisor role overload and emotional exhaustion is positively related with supervisor incivility and emotional exhaustion mediates this relationship. Time consciousness moderates the link between supervisor role overload and emotional exhaustion. The practical and theoretical implications of our findings are provided.

Workaholism and workplace incivility: a moderated dual-process model

“…Following this rationale, emotionally exhausted workaholics are more likely to engage in uncivil behaviors toward others. In fact, prior research already has illustrated individuals' resource deprivation as a proximal cause of aggressive workplace behaviors (Khan et al, 2021;Rafique, 2023). In sum, given workaholism is more likely to trigger emotional exhaustion and that emotional exhaustion can subsequently lead to workplace incivility, we propose that emotional exhaustion mediates the relationship between workaholism and workplace incivility.…”

Time pressure, emotional exhaustion and project manager abusive supervision in the construction industry: the role of psychological resilience

“…English is widely spoken language in Pakistan, hence following the lead of various studies in the Pakistani context (e.g. Mir et al ., 2021; Rafique, 2022; Rafique et al ., 2021), questionnaires were distributed in English to the project managers and subordinates.…”

“…According to AET, personality influences how affective reactions unfold over time, sometimes waning and sometimes waxing (Weiss and Cropanzano, 1996;Weiss and Beal, 2005). Empirically, research has confirmed the fundamental tenets of AET, and studies have shown how favorable and unfavorable affective reactions explain the impact of events such as supervisor incivility (Rafique, 2022) and abusive supervision (Eissa and Lester, 2017) on behaviors. Consistent with previous research, the current study extends AET to the abusive supervision literature in the construction industry.…”

“…The reason is AET postulates that events elicit affective reactions, which ultimately leads to attitudes and behaviors (Weiss and Cropanzano, 1996). Therefore, it would be worthwhile for future studies to incorporate possible mediators like frustration (Eissa and Lester, 2017;Rafique, 2022). Additionally, Fox et al (2001) argued that negative affect could mediate the relationship between stressor and outcome.…”