We develop and advance a theoretical model which proposes the antecedents of selective cyber incivility may be distinct from the predictors of face‐to‐face (F2F) incivility. Specifically, our model proposes the physical separation of the perpetrator from the target and lack of sociocultural norms in written cyber communications enhances a perpetrator's sense of perceived informality and perceived distance from the target. Drawing from the attributional ambiguity theory, we further explicate the ways in which selective cyber incivility may be more detrimental to employee outcomes than selective F2F incivility. In doing so, we argue that feelings of distress and rumination are further exacerbated in the case of selective cyber incivility given that it has higher levels of situational and contextual ambiguity than F2F communications. Finally, we posit that targets may be able to draw from their psychological capital and social support to buffer the detrimental impact of incivility experiences on important work‐ and health‐related outcomes. We present our conceptual model in the form of testable propositions to guide future research in this important domain.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the implications of anticipated discrimination for women and racial minorities when they lose out on an opportunity for a promotion to a similarly qualified non-minority colleague.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 248 participants who were full-time working adults residing in the USA were randomly assigned to one of four versions of the scenario in which a coworker was either a White male, a White female, a Black male or a Black female coworker is offered a desired promotion. Participants reported on the extent to which they anticipated discrimination (i.e. expect discriminatory behaviors enacted toward them in the future) in the hypothetical workplace.
Findings
Women and racial minorities reported anticipated discrimination at greater levels than non-minorities when passed over for a promotion. The authors also found that intersectionally stigmatized, racial minority women reported the highest levels of anticipated discrimination.
Practical implications
The authors recommend transparent and honest communication about organizations’ decision-making processes that have career-related implications for underrepresented populations. Doing so may help alleviate concerns or perceptions that employees may have in regard to organizational practices being (intentionally or unintentionally) discriminatory.
Originality/value
While research has examined the psychological implications of receiving a promotion, substantially less work has focused on the characteristics of the promoted coworker or considered how those characteristics shape perceptions of anticipating discrimination.
Organizational researchers studying well-being-as well as organizations themselves-often place much of the burden on employees to manage and preserve their own well-being. Missing from this discussion is how-from a human resources management (HRM) perspectiveorganizations and managers can directly and positively shape the well-being of their employees.We use this review to paint a picture of what organizations could be like if they valued people holistically and embraced the full experience of employees' lives to promote well-being at work.In so doing, we tackle five challenges that managers may have to help their employees navigate, but to date have received more limited empirical and theoretical attention from an HRM perspective: (1) recovery at work; (2) women's health; (3) concealable stigmas; (4) caregiving; and (5) coping with socio-environmental jolts. In each section, we highlight how past research has treated managerial or organizational support on these topics, and pave the way for where research needs to advance from an HRM perspective. We conclude with ideas for tackling these issues methodologically and analytically, highlighting ways to recruit and support more vulnerable samples that are encapsulated within these topics, as well as analytic approaches to study employee experiences more holistically. In sum, our review represents a call for organizations to now-more than ever-build thriving organizations.
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