Search results

The present work investigates the micro-mechanisms underlying the link between psychological contract violation (PCV) and incivility in women employees. Building on social exchange theory (SET) and the norm of reciprocity, the authors utilized a multi-dimensional variable, labeled “Aggressive Reciprocal Attitude” (ARA), composed of three sub-constructs, namely anger, hostility and negative reciprocity, to explain negative women's uncivil behaviors. Further, the effect of conscientiousness is hypothesized to restrain the mechanism of ARA.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Covariance-based Structural Equation Modeling (CB-SEM) were used on a sample of 194 women from 4 different organizations to empirically validate the proposed conceptual model and test the hypothesized relationships.

Women's ARA is shown as a partial mediator of the relationship between PCV and incivility. Conscientiousness significantly moderates the link between ARA and incivility.

Managers should avoid stereotyping women as more compliant and submissive. Based on women's tendency to reciprocate negatively, this study’s findings suggest that reducing the negative reciprocity attitude is advisable by demonstrating that negative responses are an unsuccessful strategy and encouraging other forms of reaction.

By introducing the negative reciprocity attitude in the construction of the variable ARA, the authors overcome the contradiction between the social role theory, according to which women avoid unsociable behaviors, and studies demonstrating a remarkable presence of conflicts among women.

Pervasive and rampant workplace incivility effects have called for more studies on antecedents and possible deterrents of the onset of negative organizational behaviors. Based on social exchange theory (SET), this study proposes a framework investigating the underlying mechanisms of team–member exchange (TMX) on instigated incivility.

The hypothesized model explores the combined effect of interventions on teams and organizational levels. Indeed, the personal norm of negative reciprocity (PNR) and the psychological contract violation (PCV) are hypothesized as mediating variables of such a relationship. The model is empirically tested using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) on a sample of 330 employees of organizations with a team-based design. PNR and PCV resulted as a full mediating variable of the relationship between TMX and instigated incivility.

Findings suggest that, by encouraging high-quality TMX, human resource (HR) managers could reduce employees’ willingness to instigate incivility toward colleagues other than team members. However, focusing only on TMX may be insufficient because of the role played by individual attitudes and organizational levers such as PNR and PCV.

The authors enrich current works on incivility by analyzing the role of positive sentiments in minimizing deviant behaviors. Further, the authors investigate negative organizational phenomena through a positive lens and contribute to building a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that might produce uncivil behaviors.

This paper applies an original construct of “subjective risk intelligence (SRI)” to the small business context. By leveraging on its multidimensionality, it aims to shed light on the existing ambiguities in the analysis of the relationship between the entrepreneurial attitude towards risk evaluation and firms’ financial stability.

The empirical investigation refers to the Italian context, where an ad hoc survey has been administered to a sample of small businesses. Based on both a linear and a semiparametric regression, results show a significant relationship between SRI and firm’s financial structure, and that such relationship is basically nonlinear.

Evidence shows that entrepreneurs with a high level of risk intelligence run highly leveraged firms. Moreover, in the light of the non-linearity of such relationship, higher levels of risk intelligence are associated with a greater capacity of the entrepreneur to govern the financial balance of the enterprise only up to a certain threshold. Over this threshold, risk intelligence generates overconfidence leading the entrepreneur to a reckless behaviour in taking financial risks.

From a theoretical point of view, the paper contributes to the literature by shedding lights on the complexity of the relationship between risk intelligence and small businesses. From a policy point of view, findings suggest that, to train new entrepreneurs, the educational system aims should focus on the development of two specific “soft skills”: the ability to manage emotions and the ability to glimpse opportunities even in uncertain situations.