TY - JOUR AB - Purpose Antecedents and influences of workplace incivility have recently been studied in many areas of research but there is still a lack of consideration for the impact of culture. Theoretical considerations for the present research are based on the cultural dimensions of power distance and tightness/looseness because the collective levels of power distance are similar between Korea and Spain, but the collective levels of tightness/looseness are different between the two countries. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether individuals’ occupational position affects their normative reactions to incivility differently.Design/methodology/approach Participant (victim)’s (those who react to uncivil behaviors) social power (low vs high) and perpetrator’s (those who exhibit uncivil behaviors) social power (low vs high) were experimentally manipulated; all participants were randomly assigned to one of four perpetrator × victim conditions in relation to hierarchical positions (Ntot = 467).Findings The results suggest that the level of social and personal acceptability was greater either among Koreans than Spanish at a collective level or among people who endorsed higher power distance and tightness values. All in all, the findings highlight cultural influences on the importance of social hierarchy as a factor that can impact the people’s normative reactions to incivility.Originality/value The findings broaden our understanding of the psychology of employees in relation to incivility, by simultaneously considering the influences of culture (power distance and tightness/looseness) and social power. VL - 32 IS - 2 SN - 1044-4068 DO - 10.1108/IJCMA-05-2020-0096 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-05-2020-0096 AU - Moon Chanki AU - Sánchez‐Rodríguez Ángel PY - 2020 Y1 - 2020/01/01 TI - Cultural influences on normative reactions to incivility: comparing individuals from South Korea and Spain T2 - International Journal of Conflict Management PB - Emerald Publishing Limited SP - 292 EP - 314 Y2 - 2024/03/28 ER -