Episodes of incivility between subordinates and supervisors: examining the role of self-control and time with an interaction-record diary study
通过互动记录日记研究发现，员工在经历上级不文明行为后，若时间间隔短且自身疲惫，更可能对上级实施报复性不文明行为，但特质自我控制无显著影响。
Scholars have hypothesized that experiencing incivility not only negatively affects well-being, but may even trigger further antisocial behavior. Previous research, however, has focused mainly on the relation between incivility and well-being. Thus, little is known about the behavioral consequences of incivility. With this in mind, we conducted an interaction-record diary study to examine whether supervisor incivility causes retaliatory incivility against the supervisor. Using the self-control strength model as a framework, we further examined whether the target's trait (trait self-control) and state (exhaustion) self-regulatory capacities moderate this effect. In addition, we examined the role of time by testing the duration of the effect. When we analyzed the full data set, we found no support for our hypotheses. However, using a subset of the data in which the subsequent interaction happened on the same day as the prior interaction, our results showed that experiencing incivility predicted incivility in the subsequent interaction, but only when the time lag between the two interactions was short. Furthermore, in line with the assumption that self-regulatory capacities are required to restrain a target from retaliatory responses, the effect was stronger when individuals were exhausted. In contrast to our assumption, trait self-control had no effect on instigated incivility. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.