From Cyber to E-Mail Incivility: A Psychometric Assessment and Measure Validation Study

Abstract

ABSTRACT Conducting research on organizational communication, and on how e-mail is used and misused by employees, is an important question addressed by this research. Specifically, we assess and address the deficiency in the existing construct of cyber incivility. This research examines how the existing scale is lacking, explains why a new scale is needed, and then develops and tests a new measure of rude e-mail. In this study we perform a quantitative test of the quality of the existing cyber incivility scale. In addition, we develop and propose a new scale with improved psychometric properties and test its validity on a sample of Mechanical Turks (MTurks). Taken together, this research develops a much-needed construct and measure of rude e-mail that is empirically informed, validated, and more useful than the existing cyber incivility scale. Implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.