Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T17:06:42.825Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Champions need an iron will: How employees use their dispositional self-control to overcome workplace incivility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2021

Dirk De Clercq*
Affiliation:
Goodman School of Business, Brock University, St. Catharines, OntarioL2S 3A1, Canada
Imanol Belausteguigoitia
Affiliation:
Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), Santa Teresa Campus, Mexico City, Mexico
*
Author for correspondence: Dirk De Clercq, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

This paper investigates how employees' experience of workplace incivility may steer them away from idea championing, with a special focus on the mediating role of their desire to quit their jobs and the moderating role of their dispositional self-control. Data collected from employees who work in a large retail organization reveal that an important reason that exposure to rude workplace behaviors reduces employees' propensity to champion innovative ideas is that they make concrete plans to leave. This mediating effect is mitigated when employees are equipped with high levels of self-control though. For organizations, this study accordingly pinpoints desires to seek alternative employment as a critical factor by which irritations about resource-draining incivility may escalate into a reluctance to add to organizational effectiveness through dedicated championing efforts. It also indicates how this escalation can be avoided, namely, by ensuring employees have access to pertinent personal resources.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Al-Hawari, M., Bani-Melhem, S., & Samina, Q. (2020). Do frontline employees cope effectively with abusive supervision and customer incivility? Testing the effect of employee resilience. Journal of Business and Psychology, 35, 223240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baeza, M. A., & Wang, Y. J. (2016). Developing organizational citizenship behavior through job satisfaction and collectivistic cultural orientation: Evidence from Mexico. Organization Development Journal, 34, 7390.Google Scholar
Bagozzi, R. P., & Yi, Y. (1988). On the evaluation of structural equation models. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 16, 7494.Google Scholar
Balliet, D., Li, N. P., & Joireman, J. (2011). Relating trait self-control and forgiveness within prosocials and proselfs: Compensatory versus synergistic models. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 10901105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bayraktar, S., & Jiménez, A. (2020). Self-efficacy as a resource: A moderated mediation model of transformational leadership, extent of change and reactions to change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 33, 301317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bergeron, D. M. (2007). The potential paradox of organizational citizen-ship behavior: Good citizens at what cost? Academy of Management Review, 32, 10781095.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bodlaj, M., & Cater, B. (2019). The impact of environmental turbulence on the perceived importance of innovation and innovativeness in SMEs. Journal of Small Business Management, 57, 417435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bozeman, D. P., & Perrewé, P. L. (2001). The effect of item content overlap on organizational commitment questionnaire-turnover cognition relationships. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 161173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brislin, R. W., Lonner, W., & Thorndike, R. M. (1973). Cross-cultural research methods. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Chen, H.-T., & Wang, C. (2019). Incivility, satisfaction and turnover intention of tourist hotel chefs. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 31, 20342053.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheng, T., Mauno, S., & Lee, C. (2014). Do job control, support, and optimism help job insecure employees? A three-wave study of buffering effects on job satisfaction, vigor and work-family enrichment. Social Indicators Research, 118, 12691291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cortina, L. M., Magley, V. J., Williams, J. H., & Langhout, R. D. (2001). Incivility in the workplace. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 6, 6480. doi: 10.1037/1076-8998.6.1.64CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Clercq, D., & Belausteguigoitia, I. (2020). Disappointed but still dedicated: When and why career dissatisfied employees might still go beyond the call of duty. Personnel Review, doi: 10.1108/PR-05-2020-0365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Clercq, D., Castañer, X., & Belausteguigoitia, I. (2011). Entrepreneurial initiative selling within organizations: Toward a more comprehensive motivational framework. Journal of Management Studies, 48, 12691290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Clercq, D., Haq, I. U., & Azeem, M. U. (2020). The relationship between workplace incivility and depersonalization towards co-workers: Roles of job-related anxiety, gender, and education. Journal of Management & Organization, 26, 219240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Clercq, D., Sun, W., & Belausteguigoitia, I. (2018). When is job control most useful for idea championing? Role conflict and psychological contract violation effects. Journal of Management & Organization, 24. doi:org/10.1017/jmo.2018.28Google Scholar
Detert, J. R., & Burris, E. R. (2007). Leadership behavior and employee voice: Is the door really open? Academy of Management Journal, 50, 869884.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fida, R., Spence-Laschinger, H. K., & Leiter, M. P. (2018). The protective role of self-efficacy against workplace incivility and burnout in nursing: A time-lagged study. Health Care Management Review, 43, 2129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18, 3950.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fugate, M., & Soenen, G. (2018). Predictors and processes related to employees' change-related compliance and championing. Personnel Psychology, 71, 109132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabriel, A. S., Butts, M. M., Yuan, Z., Rosen, R. L., & Sliter, M. T. (2018). Further understanding incivility in the workplace: The effects of gender, agency, and communion. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103, 362382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardner, D. G., Huang, G.-H., Niu, X., Pierce, J. L., & Lee, C. (2015). Organization-based self-esteem, psychological contract fulfillment, and perceived employment opportunities: A test of self-regulatory theory. Human Resource Management, 54, 933953.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerbing, D. W., & Anderson, J. C. (1988). An updated paradigm for scale development incorporating unidimensionality and its assessment. Journal of Marketing Research, 25, 186192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghosh, R., Reio, T.G. Jr., & Bang, H. (2013). Reducing turnover intent: Supervisor and co-worker incivility and socialization-related learning. Human Resource Development International, 16, 169185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gong, Y., Kim, T.-Y., Lee, D.-R., & Zhu, J. (2013). A multilevel model of team goal orientation, information exchange, and creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 56, 827851.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guo, Y.-F., Plummer, V., Lam, L., Wang, Y., Cross, W., & Zhang, J. P. (2019). The effects of resilience and turnover intention on nurses’ burnout: Findings from a comparative cross-sectional study. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 28, 499508.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haar, J. M., de Fluiter, A., & Brougham, D. (2016). Abusive supervision and turnover intentions: The mediating role of perceived organisational support. Journal of Management & Organization, 22, 139153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, T. R., Hopeck, P., Desrayaud, N., & Imboden, K. (2013). The relationship between conflict, anticipatory procedural justice, and design with intentions to use ombudsman processes. International Journal of Conflict Management, 24, 5672.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, A. F. (2015). An index and test of linear moderated mediation. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 50, 122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hayes, A. F., Montoya, A. K., & Rockwood, N. J. (2017). The analysis of mechanisms and their contingencies: PROCESS versus structural equation modeling. Australasian Marketing Journal, 25, 7681.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hobfoll, S. E. (2001). The influence of culture, community, and the nested-self in the stress process: Advancing conservation of resource theory. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 50, 337369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hobfoll, S. E., Halbesleben, J., Neveu, J.-P., & Westman, M. (2018). Conservation of resources in the organizational context: The reality of resources and their consequences. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 5, 103128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hobfoll, S.E., & Shirom, A. (2000). Conservation of resources theory: Applications to stress and management in the workplace. In Golembiewski, R.T. (Ed.), Handbook of organization behavior (2d ed., pp. 5781). New York: Dekker.Google Scholar
Hofstede, G. H., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. Intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Holland, P., Cooper, B. K., Pyman, A., & Teicher, J. (2012). Trust in management: The role of employee voice arrangements and perceived managerial opposition to unions. Human Resource Management Journal, 22, 377391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hon, A. H. Y., Bloom, M., & Crant, J. M. (2014). Overcoming resistance to change and enhancing creative performance. Journal of Management, 40, 919941.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howell, J. M. (2005). The right stuff: Identifying and developing effective champions of innovation. Academy of Management Executive, 19, 108119.Google Scholar
Howell, J. M., & Boies, K. (2004). Champions of technological innovation: The influence of contextual knowledge, role orientation, idea generation and idea promotion on champion emergence. Leadership Quarterly, 15, 123143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jansen, J. J. P., Vera, D., & Crossan, M. (2009). Strategic leadership for exploration and exploitation: The moderating role of environmental dynamism. Leadership Quarterly, 20, 518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janssen, O. (2000). Job demands, perceptions of effort-rewards fairness, and innovative work behavior. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 73, 287302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiang, W., Chai, H., Li, Y., & Feng, T. (2019). How workplace incivility influences job performance: The role of image outcome expectations. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 57, 445469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiang, W., & Gu, Q. (2015). A moderated mediation examination of proactive personality on employee creativity. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 28, 393410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joo, B.-K., Hahn, H.-J., & Peterson, S. L. (2015). Turnover intention: The effects of core self-evaluations, proactive personality, perceived organizational support, developmental feedback, and job complexity. Human Resource Development International, 18, 116130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kabat-Farr, D., Walsh, B. M., & McGonagle, A. K. (2019). Uncivil supervisors and perceived work ability: The joint moderating roles of job involvement and grit. Journal of Business Ethics, 156, 971985.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, T.-Y., Hon, A. H., & Crant, J. M. (2009). Proactive personality, employee creativity, and newcomer outcomes: A longitudinal study. Journal of Business and Psychology, 24, 93103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kissi, J., Dainty, A., & Tuuli, M. (2013). Examining the role of transformational leadership of portfolio managers in project performance. International Journal of Project Management, 31, 485497.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landman, A., Nieuwenhuys, A., & Oudejans, R. R. D. (2016). Decision-related action orientation predicts police officers' shooting performance under pressure. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 29, 570579.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lattin, J. M., Carroll, J. D., & Green, P. E. (2003). Analyzing multivariate data. Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.Google Scholar
Lim, S., Cortina, L. M., & Magley, V. J. (2008). Personal and workgroup incivility: Impact on work and health outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 95107.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lin, T., Ku, Y., & Huang, Y. (2014). Exploring top managers' innovative IT (IIT) championing behavior: Integrating the personal and technical contexts. Information & Management, 51, 112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, W., Zhou, Z. E., & Che, X. X. (2019). Effect of workplace incivility on OCB through burnout: The moderating role of affective commitment. Journal of Business and Psychology, 34, 657669.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loh, J. M. I., & Loi, N. (2018). Tit for tat: Burnout as a mediator workplace incivility and instigated workplace incivility. Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, 10, 100111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackey, J. D., Bishoff, J. D., Daniels, S. R., Hochwarter, W. A., & Ferris, G. R. (2019). Incivility's relationship with workplace outcomes: Enactment as a boundary condition in two samples. Journal of Business Ethics, 155, 513528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKinnon, D. P., Lockwood, C. M., & Williams, J. (2004). Confidence limits for the indirect effect: Distribution of the product and resampling methods. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 39, 99128.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mai, K. M., Ellis, A. P. J., Christian, J. S., & Porter, C. O. L. H. (2016). Examining the effects of turnover intentions on organizational citizenship behaviors and deviance behaviors: A psychological contract approach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101, 10671081.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maloney, P. W., Grawitch, M. J., & Barber, L. K. (2012). The multi-factor structure of the Brief Self-Control Scale: Discriminant validity of restraint and impulsivity. Journal of Research in Personality, 46, 111115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markham, S. K. (1998). A longitudinal study of how champions influence others to support their projects. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 15, 490504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meier, L. L., & Gross, S. (2015). Episodes of incivility between subordinates and supervisors: Examining the role of self-control and time with an interaction-record diary study. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36, 10961113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merino, M., & Ramirez-Nafarrate, A. (2016). Estimation of retail sales under competitive location in Mexico. Journal of Business Research, 69, 445451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nuhn, H. F. R., Heidenreich, S., & Wald, A. (2019). Performance outcomes of turnover intentions in temporary organizations: A dyadic study on the effects at the individual, team, and organizational level. European Management Review, 16, 255271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, Y., & Haun, V. C. (2018). The long arm of email incivility: Transmitted stress to the partner and partner work withdrawal. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 39, 12681282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perry-Smith, J. E., & Mannucci, P. V. (2017). From creativity to innovation: The social network drivers of the four phases of the idea journey. Academy of Management Review, 42, 5379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pooja, A. A., De Clercq, D., & Belausteguigoitia, I. (2016). Job stressors and organizational citizenship behavior: The roles of organizational commitment and social interaction. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 27, 373405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porath, C., & Pearson, C. (2013). The price of incivility. Harvard Business Review, 91, 114121.Google Scholar
Preacher, K. J., Rucker, D. D., & Hayes, A. F. (2007). Addressing moderated mediation hypotheses: Theory, methods, and prescriptions. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 42, 185227.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quinn, R. W., Spreitzer, G. M., & Lam, C. F. (2012). Building a sustainable model of human energy in organizations: Exploring the critical role of resources. Academy of Management Annals, 6, 337396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rahim, A., & Cosby, D. M. (2016). A model of workplace incivility, job burnout, turnover intentions, and job performance. The Journal of Management Development, 35, 12551265.Google Scholar
Rosen, C. C., Simon, L. S., Gajendran, R. S., Johnson, R. E., Lee, H. W., & Lin, S. (2019). Boxed in by your inbox: Implications of daily e-mail demands for managers’ leadership behaviors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104, 1933.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 6878.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sanchez-Bayardo, L. F., Gonzalez, A., & Iacovone, L. (2018). Micro-level analysis of Mexican retail markets and their response to changes in market structure and competition policies. Policy Research working paper, no. WPS 8294. Washington, DC: World Bank Group.Google Scholar
Schilpzand, P., De Pater, I. E., & Erez, A. (2016). Workplace incivility: A review of the literature and agenda for future research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37, S57S88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, S. G., & Bruce, R. A. (1994). Determinants of innovative behavior: A path model of individual innovation in the workplace. Academy of Management Journal, 37, 580607.Google Scholar
Sguera, F., Bagozzi, R. P., Huy, Q. N., Boss, R. W., & Boss, D. S. (2016). Curtailing the harmful effects of workplace incivility: The role of structural demands and organization-provided resources. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 25–26, 115–127.Google Scholar
Shin, Y., & Hur, W. (2020). Supervisor incivility and employee job performance: The mediating roles of job insecurity and amotivation. Journal of Psychology, 154, 3859.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Skiba, T., & Wildman, J. L. (2019). Uncertainty reducer, exchange deepener, or self-determination enhancer? Feeling trust versus feeling trusted in supervisor-subordinate relationships. Journal of Business and Psychology, 34, 219235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sliter, M., Sliter, K., & Jex, S. (2012). The employee as a punching bag: The effect of multiple sources of incivility on employee withdrawal behavior and sales performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33, 121139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tangney, J. P., Baumeister, R. F., & Boone, A. L. (2004). High self-control predicts good adjustment, less pathology, better grades, and interpersonal success. Journal of Personality, 72, 271322.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, S. G., Bedeian, A. G., & Kluemper, D. H. (2012). Linking workplace incivility to citizenship performance: The combined effects of affective commitment and conscientiousness. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33, 878893.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valadez-Torres, S., Maldonado-Macías, A. A., Garcia-Alcaraz, J., Camacho-Alamilla, M., Avelar-Sosa, L., & Balderrama-Armendariz, C. (2017). Analysis of burnout syndrome, musculoskeletal complaints, and job content in middle and senior managers: Case study of manufacturing industries in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Work, 58, 549565.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van de Ven, A. H. (1986). Central problems in the management of innovation. Management Science, 32, 590607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walter, A., Parboteeah, K. P., Riesenhuber, F., & Hoegl, M. (2011). Championship behaviors and innovations success: An empirical investigation of university spin-offs. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 28, 586598.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, S., & Noe, R. A. (2010). Knowledge sharing: A review and directions for future research. Human Resource Management Review, 20, 115131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welbourne, J. L., Gangadharan, A., & Esparza, C. A. (2016). Coping style and gender effects on attitudinal responses to incivility. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 31, 720738.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wichmann, B. K., Carter, C. R., & Kaufmann, L. (2015). How to become central in an informal social network: An investigation of the antecedents to network centrality in an environmental SCM initiative. Journal of Business Logistics, 36, 102119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, E., Huang, X., Jia, R., Xu, J., Liu, W., Graham, L., & Snape, E. (2020). The “evil pleasure”: Abusive supervision and third-party observers’ malicious reactions toward victims. Organization Science, 31, 11151137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yam, K. C., Fehr, R., Keng-Highberger, F., Klotz, A. C., & Reynolds, S. J. (2016). Out of control: A self-control perspective on the link between surface acting and abusive supervision. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101, 292301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yuan, X., Xu, Y., & Li, Y. (2020). Resource depletion perspective on the link between abusive supervision and safety behaviors. Journal of Business Ethics, 162, 213228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhan, X., Li, Z., & Luo, W. (2019). An identification-based model of workplace incivility and employee creativity: Evidence from China. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 57, 528552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar