We All Seek Revenge: Incivility, Personality and Reactions to Incivility
Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title
Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management
Volume
17
Issue
1
Publisher
Institute of Behavioral and Applied Management
First Page
50
Last Page
65
Publication Date
12-2-2016
Abstract
Based on the theoretical foundations of equity theory, we assess two potential responses to coworker incivility – an overt means of revenge (i.e., increase in interpersonal deviance) and a covert means of revenge (i.e., reduction of organizational citizenship behaviors). We examined the moderating role of the personality trait Honesty-Humility on these relationships in 322 full time employees. Using data from two points in time, we found that Honesty-Humility moderated the relationships such that respondents who were lower in Honesty-Humility were more likely to engage in overt revenge due to coworker incivility, whereas those who were higher in Honest-Humility took a different path and demonstrated the propensity to engage in covert revenge by reducing their engagement in organizational citizenship behaviors. Future research and practical implications are discussed.
Recommended Citation
Thompson, M. J., Carlson, D., Hunter, E. & Whitten, D. (2016) “We all seek revenge: Incivility, personality and reactions to incivility.” Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management. 50-65