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Remote work has allowed IT professionals to engage in “side hustles”, which is against the law in the Indian labour market. Professionals in the IT industry are constantly being scrutinized due to the emerging “side hustling” culture, and as a result, they are frequently subjected to rude and uncivil behaviour by others. This study aims to examine the outcome of workplace incivility on the employee’s job search behaviour and their silence. Along with this, it examines the intervening effect of organizational cynicism on the interrelation of workplace incivility with job search behaviour and employee silence. It further investigates the buffering role of workplace friendship in the link between workplace incivility and organizational cynicism.

In this study, a mixed-methods approach was used, which included testing the structural model followed by a qualitative study. In Study 1, the structural model testing of time-lagged primary data from 252 respondents who worked in information technology (IT) or information technology-enabled services was done, whereas Study 2 included a qualitative analysis.

The findings disclose that workplace incivility is positively connected to job search behaviour and employee silence. Organizational cynicism significantly intervenes in the link between workplace incivility and job search behaviour, and between workplace incivility and employee silence, whereas workplace friendship functions as a moderator in the link between workplace incivility and organizational cynicism. The findings indicate that if an employee experiences incivility at work, then workplace friendship plays an active role in encouraging the cynical behaviour of targeted employees towards their organisation.

In the past, investigators have investigated the concept of workplace incivility; however, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, its impact on job search behaviour is studied for the first time ever, whereas its impact on employee silence is studied for the first time in a moonlighting context in Indian industry. In light of the massive layoffs in India's IT industry because of employees' pursuit of side hustles, the results of this study will help firms better comprehend the negative repercussions of workplace incivility. These effects include employees' reluctance to speak up about problems at work and an increase in their frequency of actively seeking other employment.