Employees' emotional responses to incivility from different sources at workplace

國立臺灣科技大學

企業管理系

博士學位論文

學號 : D10508803

EMPLOYEES' EMOTIONAL RESPONSES TO

INCIVILITY FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES

AT WORKPLACE

研究生 : Ma The Ngan

指導教授 : Dr. Ying-Jung Yeh

中華⺠國 : 109 年 7月 10日

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ABSTRACT

Grounded in the cognitive–motivational–relational (CMR) theory of emotions and

social power theory, the author conducted a multilevel study to examine the links

between employees’ emotional responses and workplace incivility from different

sources at workplace. Organizational power distance effects on links between incivility

and employee’s emotions will also be analyzed. Specifically, the author predicted that

coworker incivility might be positively associated with target’s anger and positive

associations would be found when linking incivility from supervisor as well as customer

to employees’ fear and sadness. The author also hypothesized that the impacts of

incivility on employee well-being are stronger for those in organizations with high

power distance values. The research sample included 219 non-managerial employees

from 38 organizations in Vietnam and Taiwan. All research hypotheses were supported

by the data except for the moderating effect of organizational power distance on the

relationship between supervisor incivility and employee sadness. The findings suggest

that although incivility is considered as social norm violation, the instigator’s power and

legitimacy affect the target’s appraisal. Organizational culture, such as power distance,

also sets boundaries in which individuals interact with others.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My deep gratitude goes first to Professor Ying-Jung Yvonne Yeh who has expertly

guided me through my graduate education and who has encouraged and inspired me in

my four years of discovery. She also helped me to see the beauty of Organizational

Behavior. I still remember our first meeting where Professor Yeh told me: “If you

choose to work with me, you also choose Organizational Behavior as a career.” At that

time, although having a strong interest in this field, I could not imagine that it is more

than my career. With its philosophies, I built my own formula of happiness which varies

as a function of career, work-life balance, mindfulness, and keeping calm. For me, it is

the most important lesson in life.

I sincerely thank National Taiwan University of Science and Technology for the

scholarship grant which had enabled me to undertake this Ph.D. study.

I would also like to acknowledge with gratitude, the support, love, patience, and

tolerance of my wife, Trang, and my son, Bon. They all kept me going, and this

dissertation would not have been possible without them.

In addition, I am thankful to my Mom, Hoàng Thị Dựng, and my Dad, Ma Thế Dụng,

who always support me unconditionally.

Last, but definitely not the least, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to my parents￾in-law, my sister, my sister-in-law, and my brother-in-law for their support, caring, and

encouragement.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITTLE PAGE i

ABSTRACT ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF FIGURES vii

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS

DEVELOPMENT

3

2.1. Workplace Incivility 3

2.1.1. Definition 3

2.1.2. Antecedents of Experienced Incivility 4

2.1.3. Consequences of Experienced Incivility 5

2.1.4. Incivility from Different Sources: A Need for Comparing 6

2.2. Theoretical Background 8

2.2.1. CMR Theory of Emotions 8

2.2.2. The Nature of Incivility From Different Sources: Social Power

Theory and Dyadic Relational Perspective

9

2.2.3. Power Distance 10

2.3. Incivility from Different Sources and Discrete Negative Emotions 13

2.3.1. Incivility and Employee Anger 13

2.3.2. Incivility and Employee Fear 15

2.3.3. Incivility and Employee Sadness 18

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2.4. The Moderating Effects of Organizational Power Distance On the

Relationships Between Incivility from Different Sources and Discrete

Negative Emotions

19

CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 23

3.1. Participants and Procedure 23

3.2. Measures 24

3.2.1. Independent Variables: Incivility from Different Sources 24

3.2.2. Dependent Variable: Discrete Negative Emotions 25

3.2.3. Moderator: Organizational Power Distance 25

3.2.4. Controls 26

3.3. Analysis: Hierarchical Linear Modeling 26

CHAPTER 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 27

4.1. Preliminary Analyses 27

4.1.1. Scale Analysis 27

4.1.2. Descriptive Statistics 27

4.1.3. Aggregation Statistics 28

4.1.4. Variance components analysis 29

4.2. Tests of Hypotheses 30

4.3. Discussion 33

4.4. Practical Implications 40

4.5. Study Limitations 41

4.6. Directions for Future Research 42

REFERENCE 44