Curtailing the harmful effects of workplace incivility: the role of structural demands and organization-provided resources

Workplace incivility is a widespread phenomenon that silently damages many organizations and people working within them. To better understand moderators of the relationship between experienced incivility and employees' decision to leave, we conducted a two-wave study that examined a sample of 618 nurses working in a public research hospital. Whereas previous research has focused on preventing and eradicating uncivil behaviors, our study investigates factors that enhance or buffer the negative consequences of incivility. Building on theories of job resources and job demands, we show that (a) certain structural demands (i.e., role ambiguity and working in the night shift) increase the relationship of workplace incivility with turnover intentions, while (b) organization-provided resources (i.e., team-building and personal management interviews) help organizations reduce the association of incivility with turnover intentions.