The Relationship Between Workplace Incivility and Psychological Distress: The Moderating Role of Servant Leadership

Abstract

Background: The relationship between workplace incivility and psychological distress among nurses has been well-documented in the nursing literature. Management practices to reduce the negative impact are less clear. This study aimed to examine perceived servant leadership as a moderator between workplace incivility and psychological distress among nurses in Chinese hospitals. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design and was conducted between September and October 2020. We recruited 1,604 nurses from 13 Chinese hospitals across different regions in China ranging from 18 to 55 years in age ( M = 28.48 years, SD = 6.53 years). Multiple linear regression was used to analyze the data. Findings: The results showed that workplace incivility (β = 0.40, p < .001) and perceived servant leadership (β = −0.13, p < .001), as well as their interaction (β = −0.11, p = .002), predicted nurses’ psychological distress. Perceived servant leadership moderates the relationship between workplace incivility and psychological distress. Conclusions/Application to Practice: Servant leaders can create an ethical work climate, display empathy and compassion, and facilitate resilience. Our findings can assist hospital management with support from occupational health providers to recruit, train, and assess nursing supervisors. Also, occupational health providers in collaboration with nursing administration can monitor incivility, psychological distress, servant leadership levels, and impact.

The Relationship Between Practice Environment Variables and Nurse Manager Perceptions of Workplace Mistreatment to Identify Factors Amenable to Change

“…In a prepandemic study, supportive work environments mediated the relationship between forms of organizational mistreatment (including neglect and resource obstruction) and well-being, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction 15 . Servant leadership style has been demonstrated as a buffer between incivility and distress 25 . Supervisors can support managers by providing compassionate, clear expectations on their role in organizational change and offering regular performance improvement feedback.…”

“…15 Servant leadership style has been demonstrated as a buffer between incivility and distress. 25 Supervisors can support managers by providing compassionate, clear expectations on their role in organizational change and offering regular performance improvement feedback. In today's climate, supervisors can counsel NMs to be adaptive and innovative 23 and to shift to a new paradigm in which nurse leaders have ownership of and autonomy within their practice.…”

Authentic Leadership and Psychological Well-Being of Nurses: A Mediated Moderation Model

“…Tis scale is comprised of 10 commonly found stress symptoms, and in Australia, the K-10 scale has been used as an indicator of well-being in the 2017-18 National Health Survey [44]. It has been used to measure PWB in the nursing profession [17,20] and in workplace incivility research [45].…”

“…We deployed "psychological distress" to conceptualize and measure PWB [18] because PWB is an outcome of the interplay between interpersonal relationships at work [19]. Tis particular approach to operationalizing "psychological distress" is commonly found in other studies conducted on the work and well-being of nurses [17,20,21]. Psychological distress has been used as an indicator of well-being by the World Health Organization [22].…”

İşyeri Nezaketsizliğinin Psikolojik Sermaye Üzerine Etkisine İlişkin Bir Araştırma

“…İş arkadaşlarının uyguladığı işyeri nezaketsizliğinin ise sırasıyla dayanıklılık (%17,2), öz-yeterlilik (%17,1) ve iyimserlik (%16,3) üzerinde olumsuz bir etkisinin olduğu saptanmıştır. Literatürde bu araştırma sonuçlarını destekler nitelikte benzer çalışmalar (Çetin, 2021;Baran ve Giderler Karavelioğlu, 2022) ve bilgiler mevcuttur (Küçük ve Çakıcı, 2018b;Tortumlu ve Taş, 2020;Yıldız ve Bayrakçı, 2020;Qiu ve Zhang, 2022). İşyeri nezaketsizliği, yaygın olarak önemli bir işyeri stres etkeni olarak kabul edilmektedir (Tamunomiebi ve Akubueze, 2021: 26).…”