Supervisor incivility and how it affects subordinates’ performance: a matter of trust
Abstract
Purpose
To enhance the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the effects of incivility on outcomes, the purpose of this paper is to propose and test work engagement as a mediator of the impact of supervisor-initiated incivility on subordinates’ task and citizenship performance. Further, the authors propose that this mediated relationship would be conditional on the influence of trust in supervisor, such that the relationship would be exacerbated for subordinates who have high levels of trust in the supervisor.
Design/methodology/approach
Data came from a cross-sectional survey of 350 professionals employed in diverse occupations and organization types.
Findings
The authors found support for the mediating role of work engagement for citizenship performance, but not for task performance. As predicted, this explanation only held for employees who reported at least average levels of trust in their supervisors, supporting the “mediation is moderated” explanation.
Originality/value
Understanding how and for whom supervisor incivility affects task and citizenship performance is vital to advancing theory as well as for designing interventions to mitigate the negative effects. This manuscript is one of very few to pursue this line of research and makes important contributions to theory and practice.
Keywords
Citation
Jawahar, I.M. and Schreurs, B. (2018), "Supervisor incivility and how it affects subordinates’ performance: a matter of trust", Personnel Review, Vol. 47 No. 3, pp. 709-726. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-01-2017-0022
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited