Feeling shame and guilt when observing workplace incivility: Elicitors and behavioral responses

Abstract

This research investigates the elicitors and behavioral responses associated with feeling guilt and shame in response to observed workplace incivility. We draw from the appraisal model of self-conscious emotions to hypothesize that perceiving personal responsibility for acts of incivility conducted by others in the organization is associated with feelings of guilt and shame, and that these relationships are differentially moderated by perceived controllability over the incident. We further propose that shame is associated with avoidance and withdrawal behaviors, whereas guilt is associated with retaliatory and supportive behaviors in response to the observed incivility. We tested these hypotheses with a sample of 309 full-time working adults who completed an online survey through Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform. Our results support the claim that perceived responsibility is associated with feeling shame and guilt for observed incivility. The relationship between perceived responsibility and guilt was stronger when respondents perceived greater control over the incident; however, controllability did not moderate between responsibility and shame. As expected, shame was associated with avoiding the target and instigator and withdrawing from work, while guilt was associated with both retaliation toward the instigator and supporting the target.

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“…As shame arises from the perception that the very self is flawed, it is particularly distressing and involves feeling small, powerless and exposed. To suppress such painful feelings, people avoid shame-triggering situations (Miranda, Welbourne and Sariol, 2020;Tangney, Stuewig and Hafez, 2011). Moreover, shame arises from the perception of having violated group or social norms (Efthim, Kenny and Mahalik, 2001), so it is characterized by the wish to avoid and hide from others (Tangney et al, 2011;Turner, 2014).…”

Unpacking the relationship between customer citizenship behavior and dysfunctional customer behavior: the role of customer moral credits and entitlement

“…Respondents were provided with a definition and examples of customer citizenship behavior and dysfunctional customer behavior. Respondents were then asked to recall and describe in detail their most recent experience (within the past six months) of having displayed both customer citizenship behavior and dysfunctional customer behavior at the same service provider [1], and then to complete a series of survey items based on their specific experience (Chan et al, 2019;Gong and Wang, 2021;Miranda et al, 2020). Participation was voluntary, and all respondents were assured of confidentiality.…”

“…Respondents were then asked to recall and describe in detail their most recent experience (within the past six months) of having displayed both customer citizenship behavior and dysfunctional customer behavior at the same service provider [1], and then to complete a series of survey items based on their specific experience (Chan et al. , 2019; Gong and Wang, 2021; Miranda et al. , 2020).…”

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“…Ashamed feelings that stem from the perception that one's entire self is flawed may lead to higher stress and withdrawal behaviors. For instance, Miranda et al (2020) revealed that perceived responsibility for coworkers experiencing workplace incivility induced shame, which in turn led to target and instigator avoidance.…”