Retreating or repairing? Examining the alternate linkages between daily partner-instigated incivility at home and helping at work.

Abstract

Although research has recognized the straining effects of incivility at work, it is less clear how incivility experiences at home affect employees' daily states and behaviors at work. We argue that partner-instigated incivility-ambiguous aggressions from an employee's partner prior to work may affect helping behavior at work in multiple ways. Building on prior research, which has identified different mechanisms (i.e., resource drain, reactive compensation) linking family and work domains, we argue that whereas partner-instigated incivility may be cognitively depleting, thus limiting employees' capacity to help others, it may also induce negative mood, which may drive employees to compensate for this unpleasant experience by engaging in more person-and task-focused helping behaviors at work. Furthermore, we consider perspective taking as an individual difference with the potential to buffer the effects of partner-instigated incivility on cognitive depletion and negative mood. Results from a critical incident study (Study 1) supported our assertion that partner-instigated incivility is cognitively depleting and inducing of negative mood. In an experience sampling study (Study 2), which included daily reports from employees and their partners who instigated incivility, we replicated the initial effects and found support for a compensation linkage between partnerinstigated incivility and both forms of helping at work via negative mood and partial support for the moderating role of perspective taking. Results also indicated that person-focused helping lessened employees' negative mood in the evening, suggesting that mood repair benefits are associated with this behavior. Implications of these findings for family incivility occurrences and self-regulation are discussed.

A review of the short‐term implications of discrete, episodic incivility

“…In their study, researchers found that those individuals with higher levels of perspective-taking (+1 SD) were less affected by customer incivility as measured by performance on the Raven test (i.e., fluid memory component of working memory) compared to individuals lower in perspective-taking. Ganster et al (2022) and Cooper et al (2022) found similar effects regarding the moderating effects of perspective-taking on the relationship between incivility and negative emotions. However, Cooper et al (2022) also employed a perspective-taking intervention (study 2) that included writing a narrative essay about the life of an imaginary person in which they were instructed to "Imagine a day in the life of this individual as if you were that person….what this person might be thinking, feeling and experiencing during the day" (pg.…”

“…Because the focus of episodic incivility is on transient, shortterm reactions to incivility, these responses could easily appear as additional mediators of research designs of longer duration. For example, work by Ganster et al (2022) showed that partner-instigated incivility was associated with cognitive depletion and negative mood and these outcomes served as mediators (emotional and cognitive) of helping behaviors at work. It is unknown, however, to what extent those workplace helping behaviors may have created a more supportive environment among study participants' coworkers thereby decreasing the likelihood of workplace incivility.…”

“…Because rumination requires the use of finite cognitive resources, individuals run the risk of experiencing cognitive depletion (Twenge et al, 2004). Indeed, work by Ganster et al (2022) linked partner-instigated incivility in the morning to afternoon cognitive depletion (Twenge et al, 2004) where individuals' personal willpower is drained (Lin & Johnson, 2015) leading to problems associated with poor self-regulation.…”

“…The vast majority of episodic incivility research either directly centers on, or accounts for, affective reactions to incivility. Although one might consider negative emotional reactions to be justified if one were the target of incivility, research has shown that even witnessing (Porath & Erez, 2009) or simply recalling an uncivil interaction from the past (Ganster et al., 2022) has the potential to result in strong negative feelings. For example, experiments in which participants are asked to recall a specific instance of incivility in one's past (Ganster et al., 2022) or even imagining an uncivil interaction (Porath & Erez, 2007) tend to elicit negative affect.…”

“…Although one might consider negative emotional reactions to be justified if one were the target of incivility, research has shown that even witnessing (Porath & Erez, 2009) or simply recalling an uncivil interaction from the past (Ganster et al., 2022) has the potential to result in strong negative feelings. For example, experiments in which participants are asked to recall a specific instance of incivility in one's past (Ganster et al., 2022) or even imagining an uncivil interaction (Porath & Erez, 2007) tend to elicit negative affect. The affective outcomes of episodic incivility research include stress (Beattie & Griffin, 2014; Park et al., 2018; Schilpzand, Leavitt, & Lim, 2016), emotional exhaustion (Park et al., 2022), affective distress (Park et al., 2018), negative affect (Cooper et al., 2022; Foulk et al., 2016; Ganster et al., 2022; Porath & Erez, 2007; Reich & Hershcovis, 2015; Tremmel & Sonnentag, 2018; Zhou et al., 2022; Zhou et al., 2015), anger (Hershcovis & Bhatnagar, 2017), guilt (Hülsheger, van Gils, & Walkowiak, 2021), and negative mood (Adiyaman & Meier, 2022; Ganster et al., 2022; Vahle‐Hinz, 2019).…”