Repair (in)justice or distance yourself from it?

: examining the impact of observed incivility on target support and organizational commitment via perceptions of interpersonal justice and trait mindfulness

Abstract

Besides targets and instigators, third-party observers are also commonly involved in uncivil coworker interactions. Though, to date, observers’ reactions to such events have not been as thoroughly examined by researchers as those of the former two parties. The current thesis seeks to expand knowledge in this regard, by drawing on organizational justice theories in order to investigate third-parties’ affective organizational commitment, as well as target directed supportive behavior, upon observing incivility at work. Furthermore, it intends to shed light on mindfulness as a potential dispositional factor responsible for heightening observers’ sensitivity towards (in)justice and propensity to engage in supportive behavior. Two studies were conducted in order to examine observers’ reactions based on controlled,hypothetical coworker interactions (Study 1, N = 245), as well as based on genuine interactions that participants had personally observed in their working lives (Study 2, N = 155). As expected, observed incivility predicted observers’ perceptions of low interpersonal justice across the two studies. In terms of outcomes, the studies yielded mixed results. The proposed indirect, negative effect of observed incivility on affective commitment via perceptions of low interpersonal justice was supported in Study 1, while it was not supported in Study 2. Conversely, the proposed indirect, positive effect of observed incivility on supportive behavior was supported in Study 2, while it was not supported in Study 1. Furthermore, unexpectedly, trait mindfulness did not increase observers’ sensitivity towards justice, and low—instead of high—trait mindfulness showed stronger propensity to engage in supportive behavior upon perceiving low justice.

Date of Award	19 Oct 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Tatiana Marques (Supervisor)