Skip to main content
Log in

Effect of Workplace Incivility on OCB Through Burnout: the Moderating Role of Affective Commitment

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Business and Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the current study, we used a time-lagged design to examine burnout as a potential mediator in the relationship between workplace incivility and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and affective commitment as a moderator on the relationship between workplace incivility and burnout. Results based on data from 168 full-time employees in North America showed that workplace incivility had a significant indirect effect on OCB through burnout. In addition, the positive effect of workplace incivility on burnout was stronger for individuals with higher affective commitment, suggesting that workplace incivility could be more detrimental to individuals who are more committed to their organizations. Our findings contribute to the literature by demonstrating the mediating role of burnout and the moderating role of affective commitment in the relationship between workplace incivility and OCB.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aiken, L. S., West, S. G., & Reno, R. R. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Sage.

  • Allen, N. J., & Meyer, J. P. (1996). Affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization: An examination of construct validity. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 49(3), 252–276.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Andersson, L. M., & Pearson, C. M. (1999). Tit for tat? The spiraling effect of incivility in the workplace. Academy of Management Review, 24(3), 452–471.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ashforth, B. E., & Mael, F. (1989). Social identity theory and the organization. Academy of Management Review, 14(1), 20–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bentler, P. M., & Chou, C.-P. (1987). Practical issues in structural modeling. Sociological Methods & Research, 16(1), 78–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergeron, D. M., Schroeder, T. D., & Martinez, H. A. (2014). Proactive personality at work: Seeing more to do and doing more? Journal of Business and Psychology, 29(1), 71–86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-013-9298-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buhrmester, M., Kwang, T., & Gosling, S. D. (2011). Amazon’s Mechanical Turk a new source of inexpensive, yet high-quality, data? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(1), 3–5.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burke, P. J. (1991). Identity processes and social stress. American Sociological Review, 56, 836–849.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, N. C., Berry, C. M., & Houston, L. (2014). A meta-analytic comparison of self-reported and other-reported organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(4), 547–574. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1909.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caza, B. B., & Cortina, L. M. (2007). From insult to injury: Explaining the impact of incivility. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 29(4), 335–350.

  • Chen, Y., Ferris, D. L., Kwan, H. K., Yan, M., Zhou, M., & Hong, Y. (2013). Self-love’s lost labor: A self-enhancement model of workplace incivility. Academy of Management Journal, 56(4), 1199–1219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cortina, L. M., Kabat-Farr, D., Leskinen, E. A., Huerta, M., & Magley, V. J. (2013). Selective incivility as modern discrimination in organizations: Evidence and impact. Journal of Management, 39(6), 1579–1605.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cortina, L. M., Kabat-Farr, D., Magley, V. J., & Nelson, K. (2017). Researching rudeness: The past, present, and future of the science of incivility. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22(3), 299–313. https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000089.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cortina, L. M., & Magley, V. J. (2009). Patterns and profiles of response to incivility in the workplace. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 14(3), 272.

  • Cortina, L. M., Magley, V. J., Williams, J. H., & Langhout, R. D. (2001). Incivility in the workplace: Incidence and impact. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 6(1), 64–80. https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-8998.6.1.64.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, E. R., LePine, J. A., & Rich, B. L. (2010). Linking job demands and resources to employee engagement and burnout: A theoretical extension and meta-analytic test. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(5), 834–848.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dalal, R. S. (2005). A meta-analysis of the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior and counterproductive work behavior. American Psychological Association.

  • Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Nachreiner, F., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2001). The job demands-resources model of burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 499–512.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demerouti, E., Mostert, K., & Bakker, A. B. (2010). Burnout and work engagement: A thorough investigation of the independency of both constructs. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 15(3), 209–222. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019408.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberger, R., Armeli, S., Rexwinkel, B., Lynch, P. D., & Rhoades, L. (2001). Reciprocation of perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(1), 42–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberger, R., Huntington, R., Hutchison, S., & Sowa, D. (1986). Perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71(3), 500–507.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ford, M. T., Matthews, R. A., Wooldridge, J. D., Mishra, V., Kakar, U. M., & Strahan, S. R. (2014). How do occupational stressor-strain effects vary with time? A review and meta-analysis of the relevance of time lags in longitudinal studies. Work & Stress, 28(1), 9–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, S., & Spector, P. E. (1999). A model of work frustration-aggression. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20, 915–931.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaudet, M.-C., Tremblay, M., & Doucet, O. (2014). Exploring the black box of the contingent reward leadership–performance relationship: The role of perceived justice and emotional exhaustion. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 23(6), 897–914. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2013.817056.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, S., Laschinger, H. K. S., & Leiter, M. (2010). The mediating effect of burnout on the relationship between structural empowerment and organizational citizenship behaviours. Journal of Nursing Management, 18(3), 339–348. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2834.2010.01074.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, J. K., Cryder, C. E., & Cheema, A. (2013). Data collection in a flat world: The strengths and weaknesses of Mechanical Turk samples. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 26(3), 213–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greitemeyer, T., & Rudolph, U. (2003). Help giving and aggression from an attributional perspective: Why and when we help or retaliate1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 33(5), 1069–1087.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halbesleben, J. R., & Bowler, W. (2005). Organizational citizenship behaviors and burnout. Handbook of Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: A review of good soldier activity (pp. 399–414).

  • Halbesleben, J. R., & Buckley, M. R. (2004). Burnout in organizational life. Journal of Management, 30(6), 859–879.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halbesleben, J. R., Neveu, J.-P., Paustian-Underdahl, S. C., & Westman, M. (2014). Getting to the “COR” understanding the role of resources in conservation of resources theory. Journal of Management, 0149206314527130.

  • Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hershcovis, M. S. (2011). “Incivility, social undermining, bullying… oh my!”: A call to reconcile constructs within workplace aggression research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32(3), 499–519.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hershcovis, M. S., Cameron, A.-F., Gervais, L., & Bozeman, J. (2017). The effects of confrontation and avoidance coping in response to workplace incivility. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000078.

  • Hershcovis, M. S., Ogunfowora, B., Reich, T. C., & Christie, A. M. (2017). Targeted workplace incivility: The roles of belongingness, embarrassment, and power. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38, 1057–1075.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobfoll, S. E. (1989). Conservation of resources: A new attempt at conceptualizing stress. American Psychologist, 44(3), 513–524. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.44.3.513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobfoll, S. E. (2001). The influence of culture, community, and the nested-self in the stress process: Advancing conservation of resources theory. Applied Psychology, 50(3), 337–421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobfoll, S. E., & Shirom, A. (1993). Stress and burnout in the workplace: Conservation of resources. Handbook of organizational behavior, vol. 1 (pp. 41–61).

  • Huang, J. L., Bowling, N. A., Liu, M., & Li, Y. (2015). Detecting insufficient effort responding with an infrequency scale: Evaluating validity and participant reactions. Journal of Business and Psychology, 30(2), 299–311.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Irving, P. G., & Coleman, D. F. (2003). The moderating effect of different forms of commitment on role ambiguity-job tension relations. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences/Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l'Administration, 20(2), 97–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jawahar, I., & Schreurs, B. (2018). Supervisor incivility and how it affects subordinates’ performance: A matter of trust. Personnel Review, 47(3), 709–726.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kabat-Farr, D., Cortina, L. M., & Marchiondo, L. A. (2016). The emotional aftermath of incivility: Anger, guilt, and the role of organizational commitment. International Journal of Stress Management. https://doi.org/10.1037/str0000045.

  • Karasek, R. A., & Theorell, T. (1992). Healthy work: Stress, productivity, and the reconstruction of working life. Basic books.

  • Kern, J. H., & Grandey, A. A. (2009). Customer incivility as a social stressor: The role of race and racial identity for service employees. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 14(1), 46–57.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, R. T., & Ashforth, B. E. (1996). A meta-analytic examination of the correlates of the three dimensions of job burnout (Vol. 81). Journal of Applied Psychology: American Psychological Association.

  • Leiter, M. P. (1991). Coping patterns as predictors of burnout: The function of control and escapist coping patterns. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 12(2), 123–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leiter, M. P., Day, A., Oore, D. G., & Spence Laschinger, H. K. (2012). Getting better and staying better: Assessing civility, incivility, distress, and job attitudes one year after a civility intervention. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 17, 425–434.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lim, S., Cortina, L. M., & Magley, V. J. (2008). Personal and workgroup incivility: Impact on work and health outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(1), 95–107. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.93.1.95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Little, T. D., Cunningham, W. A., Shahar, G., & Widaman, K. F. (2002). To parcel or not to parcel: Exploring the question, weighing the merits. Structural Equation Modeling, 9(2), 151–173. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15328007SEM0902_1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mao, C., Chang, C.-H., Johnson, R. E., & Sun, J. (2017). Incivility and employee performance, citizenship, and counterproductive behaviors: Implications of the social context.

  • Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), 397–422.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mathieu, J. E., & Zajac, D. M. (1990). A review and meta-analysis of the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of organizational commitment. Psychological Bulletin, 108(2), 171–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matthews, R. A., & Toumbeva, T. H. (2015). Lagged effects of family-supportive organization perceptions and supervision in relation to generalized work-related resources. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 20(3), 301–313. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038377.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mayer, R. C., & Schoorman, F. D. (1992). Predicting participation and production outcomes through a two-dimensional model of organizational commitment. Academy of Management Journal, 35(3), 671–684.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. P., Allen, N. J., & Smith, C. A. (1993). Commitment to organizations and occupations: Extension and test of a three-component conceptualization. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(4), 538–551.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. P., Becker, T. E., & Vandenberghe, C. (2004). Employee commitment and motivation: A conceptual analysis and integrative model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(6), 991–1007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. P., & Maltin, E. R. (2010). Employee commitment and well-being: A critical review, theoretical framework and research agenda. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 77(2), 323–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. P., Stanley, D. J., Herscovitch, L., & Topolnytsky, L. (2002). Affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization: A meta-analysis of antecedents, correlates, and consequences. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 61(1), 20–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miner, K. N., Diaz, I., Wooderson, R. L., McDonald, J. N., Smittick, A. L., & Lomeli, L. C. (2018). A workplace incivility roadmap: Identifying theoretical speedbumps and alternative routes for future research. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 23(3), 320–337. https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000093

  • Miner-Rubino, K., & Cortina, L. M. (2007). Beyond targets: Consequences of vicarious exposure to misogyny at work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(5), 1254–1269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miner-Rubino, K., & Reed, W. D. (2010). Testing a moderated mediational model of workgroup incivility: The roles of organizational trust and group regard. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 40(12), 3148–3168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicholson, T., & Griffin, B. (2015). Here today but not gone tomorrow: Incivility affects after-work and next-day recovery. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 20(2), 218–225. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038376.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Organ, D. W. (1988). Organizational citizenship behavior: The good soldier syndrome. Lexington Books/DC Heath and Com.

  • Osatuke, K., Moore, S. C., Ward, C., Dyrenforth, S. R., & Belton, L. (2009). Civility, respect, engagement in the workforce (CREW): Nationwide organization development intervention at Veterans Health Administration. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 45(3), 384–410. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886309335067.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paolacci, G., Chandler, J., & Ipeirotis, P. G. (2010). Running experiments on amazon mechanical turk.

  • Pearson, C. M., & Porath, C. L. (2005). On the nature, consequences and remedies of workplace incivility: No time for “nice”? Think again. The Academy of Management Executive, 19(1), 7–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Podsakoff, N. P., Whiting, S. W., Podsakoff, P. M., & Blume, B. D. (2009). Individual-and organizational-level consequences of organizational citizenship behaviors: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(1), 122–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J.-Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porath, C. L., & Erez, A. (2007). Does rudeness really matter? The effects of rudeness on task performance and helpfulness. Academy of Management Journal, 50(5), 1181–1197.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porath, C. L., & Erez, A. (2009). Overlooked but not untouched: How rudeness reduces onlookers’ performance on routine and creative tasks. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109(1), 29–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porath, C. L., & Pearson, C. M. (2013). The price of incivility.

  • Preacher, K. J., Rucker, D. D., & Hayes, A. F. (2007). Addressing moderated mediation hypotheses: Theory, methods, and prescriptions. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 42(1), 185–227.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reilly, N. P. (1994). Exploring a paradox: Commitment as a moderator of the stressor-burnout relationship. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24(5), 397–414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosen, C. C., Koopman, J., Gabriel, A. S., & Johnson, R. E. (2016). Who strikes back? A daily investigation of when and why incivility begets incivility. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101, 1620–1634. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rousseau, D. M. (1998). Why workers still identify with organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 19(3), 217–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schaufeli, W. B., & Enzmann, D. (1998). The burnout companion to study and practice: A critical analysis. CRC press.

  • Schilpzand, P., De Pater, I. E., & Erez, A. (2016). Workplace incivility: A review of the literature and agenda for future research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37(S1), S57–S88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schilpzand, P., & Huang, L. (2018). When and how experienced incivility dissuades proactive performance: An integration of sociometer and self-identity orientation perspectives. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 103, 828–841.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schilpzand, P., Leavitt, K., & Lim, S. (2016). Incivility hates company: Shared incivility attenuates rumination, stress, and psychological withdrawal by reducing self-blame. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 133, 33–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shirom, A. (1989). Burnout in work organizations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spector, P. E., Bauer, J. A., & Fox, S. (2010). Measurement artifacts in the assessment of counterproductive work behavior and organizational citizenship behavior: Do we know what we think we know? Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(4), 781–790.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sulea, C., Filipescu, R., Horga, A., Orţan, C., & Fischmann, G. (2012). Interpersonal mistreatment at work and burnout among teachers. Cognition, Brain, Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 16(4), 553–570.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. (1986). The social identity theory of inter group behavior. In S. Worchel & W. G. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations. Chicago: Nelson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. G., Bedeian, A. G., Cole, M. S., & Zhang, Z. (2014). Developing and testing a dynamic model of workplace incivility change. Journal of Management, 0149206314535432.

  • Taylor, S. G., Bedeian, A. G., & Kluemper, D. H. (2012). Linking workplace incivility to citizenship performance: The combined effects of affective commitment and conscientiousness. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33(7), 878–893. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.773.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tepper, B. J. (2000). Consequences of abusive supervision. Academy of Management Journal, 43(2), 178–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Knippenberg, D., & Sleebos, E. (2006). Organizational identification versus organizational commitment: Self-definition, social exchange, and job attitudes. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27(5), 571–584.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, S.-X., Ding, G.-F., & Gu, X.-X. (2014). Job burnout and job performance in uncivilized behavior targets. Chinese Mental Health Journal, 28(7), 535–540.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zellars, K. L., Tepper, B. J., & Duffy, M. K. (2002). Abusive supervision and subordinates’ organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(6), 1068–1076.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhiqing E. Zhou.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liu, W., Zhou, Z.E. & Che, X.X. Effect of Workplace Incivility on OCB Through Burnout: the Moderating Role of Affective Commitment. J Bus Psychol 34, 657–669 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-018-9591-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-018-9591-4

Keywords

Navigation