Would you mind sharing your story? A narrative exploration of incivility experiences in the Information Technology workplace
Information Technology & People
ISSN: 0959-3845
Article publication date: 3 June 2022
Issue publication date: 11 April 2023
Abstract
Purpose
Unfortunately, workplace incivility (WI) within the information technology (IT) sector has hardly been covered in extant literature. Therefore, through narratives, this study explored various situational and cultural attributes of WI in the Indian IT sector.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted among the IT professionals (N = 24; Males = 13, Females = 11) aged between 21 and 45 years (Mean = 31.20, SD = 6.56) working in the South Indian state of Karnataka (Bengaluru).
Findings
The narrative thematic analysis yielded the following themes: Experiences of managers' ill-treatment at the workplace, co-workers incivility: dominance in the IT sector and prevalence of gender-based interpersonal discrimination. Furthermore, many sub-themes emerged under each major theme.
Research limitations/implications
Contexts and cultural attributes of WI experiences warrant reconsidering and redefining the concept's theoretical underpinnings, especially from multi-cultural contexts, i.e. India, unlike leading studies in the Western culture. Current study narratives would guide further explorations of how IT professionals wish to curtail these behaviours and suggest strategies to minimize these behaviours in the respective sector.
Originality/value
The findings pose an interesting question for further investigation such as: Do individuals who seek favours from co-workers, under certain conditions, invite the experiences of WI for themselves from potential favour-doer? In a first of its kind, the study also offered relevant insights into exploring whether intentional acts as uncivil behaviours are peculiar to multi-cultural contexts, such as in India.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the ICSSR for the research grant and all the current study respondents for their participation in the same.
Citation
Prabhu, G., Pandey, V., Jeyavel, S. and Greeshma, R. (2023), "Would you mind sharing your story? A narrative exploration of incivility experiences in the Information Technology workplace", Information Technology & People, Vol. 36 No. 3, pp. 1160-1178. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-10-2021-0759
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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