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.

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