Scylla and Charybdis: The relationships between supervisor active and passive cyber incivility with job stress, work engagement, and turnover intentions

Abstract

Cyber incivility (CI) is a prevalent form of workplace mistreatment with deleterious consequences for individuals and organisations. Although research has established a clear distinction between active and passive forms of CI, a nuanced understanding of how these affect employee attitudes and behaviours is lacking. The absence of such studies potentially misleads researchers and practitioners into assuming identical effects. To elucidate this distinction, we draw from the job demands–resources theory and explore the relationship between supervisor-initiated active and passive CI exhibited through digital communication tools and employees’ work engagement and turnover intentions. Furthermore, we test the mediating role of job stress and the moderating role of psychological resilience. Based on a cross-sectional survey of 346 working professionals, we find that both active and passive CI are negatively related to work engagement indirectly, through job stress. In addition, both forms of CI are positively associated with turnover intentions directly, as well as indirectly through job stress. Psychological resilience does not significantly moderate any of these relationships.