In recent years a growing amount of research has been conducted in the area of workplace incivility. Whereas many studies have focused on the victims and the consequences of incivility, little attention has been paid to the perpetrators and antecedents of workplace incivility. This study aims to identify possible antecedents of workplace incivility, by investigating organizational aspects as well as the possibility that being the target of incivility from co-workers and supervisors could induce incivility. A total of 512 employees (378 women and 133 men) in the school sector in a Swedish municipality completed an online questionnaire. Overall, the results of structural equation modelling analyses showed that organizational variables were related to the perpetration of incivility. A direct relationship was found between being uncivil and organizational change, job insecurity, low social support from co-workers and high job demands. However, the strongest relationship was found between experienced incivility from co-workers and instigated incivility. This could be reflecting a climate or culture of incivility in the organization, and carry implications for future practice in interventions against workplace incivility. The results indicate the importance of focusing on the perspective of the instigator to gain knowledge about the process of workplace incivility.

The aim of the study was to investigate workplace incivility as a social process, examining its components and relationships to both instigated incivility and negative outcomes in the form of well-being, job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and sleeping problems. The different components of incivility that were examined were experienced and witnessed incivility from coworkers as well as supervisors. In addition, the organizational factors, social support, control, and job demands, were included in the models. A total of 2871 (2058 women and 813 men) employees who were connected to the Swedish Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union completed an online questionnaire. Overall, the results from structural equation modelling indicate that whereas instigated incivility to a large extent was explained by witnessing coworker incivility, negative outcomes were to a high degree explained by experienced supervisor incivility via mediation through perceived low social support, low control, and high job demands. Unexpectedly, the relationships between incivility (experienced coworker and supervisor incivility, as well as witnessed supervisor incivility) and instigated incivility were moderated by perceived high control and high social support. The results highlight the importance of including different components of workplace incivility and organizational factors in future studies of the area.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how witnessing workplace incivility from coworkers and supervisors relates to instigating incivility toward others. A further aim was to investigate if witnessed incivility is indirectly related to instigated incivility via perceived stress and low job satisfaction. An additional aim was to study if control, social support and job embeddedness moderate the relationships between witnessed and instigated incivility. Design/methodology/approach A total of 978 individuals, sourced from a Swedish trade union, completed an online questionnaire. Findings The results showed that witnessed incivility, mainly from coworkers but also from supervisors, was related to instigated incivility. Although witnessed incivility was related to both perceived stress and low job satisfaction, witnessed incivility was not linked to instigated incivility via perceived stress or low job satisfaction. In addition, the results showed that participants who had witnessed coworker incivility and at the same time perceived high levels of control, social support (from coworkers) or job embeddedness on average reported higher levels of instigated incivility. Similarly, participants who had witnessed supervisor incivility and at the same time perceived high levels of control, social support (from coworkers and supervisors) or job embeddedness on average reported higher levels of instigated incivility. Originality/value The findings expand the literature on bystander workplace incivility and highlight the importance of including experienced psychosocial work factors in models of incivility.

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The aims of the present study are formulated to test theoretical assumptions of the incivility spiral presented by Andersson and Pearson (1999). The first aim is to investigate possible longitudinal outcomes of witnessed workplace incivility, in the form of instigated incivility and well-being. An additional aim is to explore whether witnessed workplace incivility is indirectly related to instigated incivility or well-being over time, via lower levels of perceived organizational justice. Lastly, we aim to explore if control, social support (from coworkers and supervisors), and job embeddedness moderate the relationship between witnessed and instigated incivility over time. An online questionnaire was distributed to a panel of Swedish engineers at three time points over one year with about six months between waves. Longitudinal data were provided by 341 respondents. Results from longitudinal structural equation panel models showed that witnessed workplace incivility, over time, predicted subsequent higher levels of instigated incivility but not lower levels of well-being. In addition, witnessed incivility predicted lower levels of perceived organizational justice over time but perceived organizational justice did not mediate the relationship between witnessed and instigated incivility or well-being. Finally, the results showed that control, social support from supervisors (but not coworkers), and job embeddedness partly moderated the relationship between witnessed and instigated incivility over time. The relationship between witnessed and instigated incivility between time 1 and time 2 was stronger when levels of control, support and job embeddedness were high. However, job embeddedness was the only robust moderator of the relationship.