Kick me while I’m down: Modeling employee differences of the impact of workplace incivility on employees' health and wellbeing

Abstract

Although research has shown that workplace incivility has a stronger and more enduring impact on the health and wellbeing of some employees more than others, there has been little focus on why this is the case. To address this gap, in this paper, we integrate attribution and conservation of resource theories and relevant studies to develop a conceptual model that focuses on explaining the relationship between workplace incivility and employees' health and wellbeing. Our model emphasizes how employees' attributions about incivility are influenced by the combination of the perceived power of the source of the incivility, employees' individual resources, and the cultural value of collectivism of the country in which the employees were raised, and how their attributions may lead to a freeze response, resulting in a downward spiral that impacts their health and wellbeing. Further, we consider the role of organizational resources in potentially mitigating the negative consequences of workplace incivility on these employees. By including an example of the model's application to equity-deserving employees and considering how employees' past experiences impact on the relationship between their attributions about workplace incivility and their health and wellbeing, our paper challenges underlying assumptions of human resource management (HRM) frameworks and models used to ensure employee wellbeing.