| Investigation into the "dark side" of organizations is at an all-time high and for twenty years, research into workplace incivility has been leading that charge. Commonly defined as deviant behaviors in the workplace featuring low intensity and ambiguous intent to harm others (Andersson & Pearson, 1999), workplace incivility has been shown to impact roughly 98% of the workforce, with half of those affected at least on a weekly basis (Porath & Pearson, 2013).
Since its emergence in the 1990's as a topic of choice for organizational behavior research, many studies have researched how behaviors such as aggression, deviance, bullying, and abusive supervision affect organizations. (Schilpzand, De Pater, & Erez, 2016). Researchers Andersson and Pearson first introduced the question of whether ongoing uncivil behaviors within the workplace would be reciprocated with more severe forms of negativity in their 1999 seminal article "Tit for Tat? The spiraling effect of incivility in the workplace" published in the Academy of Management Review. Since that time, calls have been made to provide separation between the idea of incivility and more hostile behaviors such as sexual harassment, bullying, and counterproductive work behaviors (Branch, Ramsay, & Barker, 2013; Hershcovis, 2011; Kunkel, Carnevale, & Henderson, 2015). Other researchers have moved the idea of incivility into the realm of personality and culture (Liu, Chi, Friedman, & Tsai, 2009; Sliter, Withrow, & Jex, 2014). Still others have seen a need for better and more concise instruments to measure incivility in the workplace (Matthews & Ritter, 2015).
The time has come for a new analysis of incivility research to better understand how workplace incivility has transformed or evolved as a result of the changing patterns of organizations, workplaces and the structure of work.
The goal of this special issue is to answer the question "What does workplace incivility look like in the current organization?" Conceptual, empirical, and practice-focused papers which explore and investigate how workplace incivility has changed over the past several years, and in what directions it may continue to evolve are welcomed. Potential topics include:
- Cyber Incivility: how technology influences workplace incivility, especially with regard to digital technology, including the influence of social media, emails, text messages and other computer-mediated interactions.
- Gig Economy and Workplace Incivility: how contract labor, freelancing and job-hopping can impact organizational commitment or minimize internalization of organizational values and norms.
- Workplace Diversity and Incivility: how employees from Generation X, Y and millennials utilize different communication styles along with how employees from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds might react and perceive situations differently, leading to incivility issues.
- Leadership Forms and Workplace Incivility: how bullying, narcissism and sarcastic short-term leadership styles could aggravate workplace incivility, including critical analysis of issues pertaining to power, politics and gameplay, discipline and control.
- The Dark Side of Workplace Incivility: the aftermath of workplace incivility on employees and their lives. What impact does incivility have on work/life balance, emotional labor, and health matters?
- Mandatory Diversity Programs: the impact on both the motivation and organizational commitment of employees forced to participate in diversity programs. Does directive participation in diversity programs result in certain uncivil behaviors?
- Combating Workplace Incivility: types of practical and theoretical workplace behavior modifications, including interpersonal interventions as well as group training exercises and awareness programs.
In addition to topical issues, the progression of frameworks might include: - Theoretical Concerns and Workplace Incivility: to facilitate a more comprehensive and in-depth analysis of workplace incivility, its causes and forms and outcomes, there is a need to explore and discuss different types of theoretical frameworks.
- Methodological Considerations and Workplace Incivility: types of methodologies and instruments which can be used to investigate workplace incivility, such as an analysis of the strengths and limitations of current research approaches.
Submission Information:
The deadline for submissions is June 1, 2018. All submissions must adhere to the guidelines of Organization Management Journal. Information on submissions and formatting can be found at the journal homepage,www.tandfonline.com/uomj. Submissions should be original, not published in any other source, and no more than 40 pages long, including references, figures, tables, appendices, etc. Submit electronic submissions, Word or RTF files only through the journal homepage link at https://mc.manuscripcentral.com/omj. Under submission type, select Special Issue: Workplace Incivility. Prospective authors as well as potential reviewers are encouraged to contact one of the guest editors.
For further information, contact the Guest Editors:
Devi Akella: devi.akella@asurams.edu
Vance Johnson Lewis: vlewis@uca.edu
References: - 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.
- Branch, S., Ramsay, S., & Barker, M. (2013). Workplace bullying, mobbing and general harassment: A review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15(3), 280-299.
- 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.
- Kunkel, D., Carnevale, J., & Henderson, D. (2015). Examining instrument issues in workplace incivility: Measurement or mutation? Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, 19 (1), 102-117.
- Liu, W., Chi, S. S., Friedman, R., & Tsai, M. (2009). Explaining incivility in the workplace: The effects of personality and culture. Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, 2(2), 164-184.
- Matthews, R. A., & Ritter, K. (2016). A concise, content valid, gender invariant measure of workplace incivility. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 21(3), 352-365.
- Porath, C., & Pearson, C. (2013). The price of incivility. Harvard Business Review, 91(1-2), 114-121.
- 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.
- Sliter, M., Withrow, S., & Jex, S. M. (2015). It happened, or you thought it happened? Examining the perception of workplace incivility based on personality characteristics. International Journal of Stress Management, 22(1), 24-45.
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