Although workplace incivility has become increasingly researched in recent years, little is known about the degree to which individual differences affect both the perception and experience of incivility. The current study sought to determine whether personality characteristics were predictive o f perceptions of incivility. A total o f 708 undergraduates from a large Midwestern univer sity were exposed to a series o f vignettes describing behaviors that could potentially be perceived as uncivil, and were asked to rate the degree to which each of these were perceived as rude. Results indicated that agree ableness, emotional stability, and openness were negatively related to per ceptions o f incivility, whereas positive affect (PA), negative affect (NA), and trait anger were positively related to perceptions o f incivility. When all personality variables were analyzed together, PA and trait anger explained the most variance in incivility perceptions, whereas NA was no longer significant in this model. In an exploratory analysis, we also found that supervisor-perpetrated incivility was perceived as more uncivil than co worker or customer incivility. Implications of these findings for future inci vility research are discussed.

Implications were discussed in employee selection and employee well-being, particularly in the customer service context. It is recommended that future research investigates how aging is related to emotional labor strategies in other occupations that have different emotional requirements (e.g., negative display rules).

The prevalence of increased adiposity among employees in the American workplace has resulted in significant economic costs to organizations. Unfortunately, relatively little research has examined the effects of excess adiposity on employees themselves. As a step toward remedying this, the current study examined a previously unknown link between adiposity and incivility, and how this might impact employee burnout and withdrawal. A student sample was used to initially establish a link between incivility and adiposity, and an applied sample of employees from across the United States was used to more fully test the relationships among incivility, adiposity, burnout, and withdrawal. Finally, the moderating effects of sex and race on these relationships were examined. Preliminary data from 341 student employees revealed that being overly adipose was related to greater reports of workplace incivility, with the effect strongest for those classified as obese. An interaction between sex and adiposity was also found, as well as a three-way interaction among sex, race, and adiposity. These relationships were replicated using a nationwide sample of 528 full-time employees. An interaction between race and adiposity was also found in this second sample. Finally, a model was tested in which incivility was shown to partially mediate the positive relationship between adiposity and the outcome of withdrawal, with both sex and race acting as moderators. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings and future directions are discussed.

Psychologists are increasingly positing theories of behavior that suggest psychological constructs are curvilinearly related to outcomes. However, results from empirical tests for such curvilinear relations have been mixed. We propose that correctly identifying the response process underlying responses to measures is important for the accuracy of these tests. Indeed, past research has indicated that item responses to many self-report measures follow an ideal point response process-wherein respondents agree only to items that reflect their own standing on the measured variable-as opposed to a dominance process, wherein stronger agreement, regardless of item content, is always indicative of higher standing on the construct. We test whether item response theory (IRT) scoring appropriate for the underlying response process to self-report measures results in more accurate tests for curvilinearity. In 2 simulation studies, we show that, regardless of the underlying response process used to generate the data, using the traditional sum-score generally results in high Type 1 error rates or low power for detecting curvilinearity, depending on the distribution of item locations. With few exceptions, appropriate power and Type 1 error rates are achieved when dominance-based and ideal point-based IRT scoring are correctly used to score dominance and ideal point response data, respectively. We conclude that (a) researchers should be theory-guided when hypothesizing and testing for curvilinear relations; (b) correctly identifying whether responses follow an ideal point versus dominance process, particularly when items are not extreme is critical; and (c) IRT model-based scoring is crucial for accurate tests of curvilinearity. (PsycINFO Database Record

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the importance of norms and inference, while providing national overall and subgroup norms for the updated Job Descriptive Index and Job in General measures of job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – A stratified random sample was drawn from an online panel to represent the US working population on key variables. Validity evidence is provided. Determination of subgroup norms was based on practical significance. Findings – The revised measures fit the theorized model and patterns of results are consistent with the literature. Practical subgroup differences were found for some stratification variables. Subgroup norms are made available; the first US overall norms are provided. Research limitations/implications – An updated job satisfaction measurement system is made available, complete with nationally representative overall and subgroup norms. A major limitation and direction for future research is the lack of norms for other nations. Practical implications – The revised measurement system is available for use in practice. National overall norms improve decision-makers’ ability to infer respondents’ relative standing and make comparisons across facets and employees. The JDI is useful for dimensional diagnostics and development efforts; the JIG is useful for evaluating overall job satisfaction levels. Social implications – By facilitating valid inferences of job satisfaction scores, the revised measurement system serves to enhance the quality of life at work. Originality/value – The authors provide the only publicly available job satisfaction measurement system that has US national overall norms.