Selected Publications We Have Written Regarding Workplace Incivility

Porath, C.L. and Pearson, C.M. (2009) “Toxic Colleagues,” Harvard Business Review.

Porath, C.L., & Erez, A. (2009) "Overlooked but not untouched: How incivility reduces onlookers’ performance on routine and creative tasks." Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109: 29-44.

In three experimental studies, we found that witnessing rudeness enacted by an authority figure (Studies 1 and 3) and a peer (Study 2) reduced observers’ performance on routine tasks as well as creative tasks. In all three studies we also found that witnessing rudeness decreased citizenship behaviors and increased dysfunctional ideation. Negative affect mediated the relationships between witnessing rudeness and performance. The results of Study 3 show that competition with the victim over scarce resources moderated the relationship between observing rudeness and performance. Witnesses that were in a competition with the victim felt less negative affect in observing his mistreatment and their performance decreased to a lesser extent than observers of rudeness enacted against a non-competitive victim. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Porath, C.L., Overbeck, J., Pearson, C.M. 2008. "Picking up the Gauntlet: How individuals respond to status challenges." Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38 (7): 1945-1980.

How do people respond to status challenges? We suggest that responses depend on the relative status and genders of challenger and target; in particular, these variables affect appraisals about the status challenge (operationally defined as an act of incivility) and likely outcomes of various responses, and those appraisals proximately determine responses. Studies 1 and 2 show that male gender and high status are associated with more aggressive responses, whereas female gender and low status are associated with more avoidant responses. Study 3 shows that men and women’s responses aren’t perfectly antithetical: men show the greatest resistance toward peers, which may reflect greater sensitivity to status contests among men. Perceived legitimacy of the challenger’s actions and consequences affect the status-gender-response relationships.

Porath, C.L., & Erez, A. 2007. "Does Rudeness Matter? The Effects of Rude Behavior on Task Performance and Helpfulness." Academy of Management Journal, 50: 1181-1197.

In three experimental studies, we provide an empirical test of how rudeness affects task performance and helpfulness. Different forms of rudeness (rudeness instigated by a direct authority figure, rudeness delivered by a third-party offender, and imagining a situation in which a perpetrator was rude) converged to produce the same effects. Results from these studies showed that rudeness reduced performance on routine tasks as well as creative tasks. We also found that rude behavior decreased helpfulness. We examined the processes that mediated the rudeness-performance relationship and found evidence that disruption to cognitive processes fully mediated the rudeness-performance relationship.

Pearson, C.M. (2006) “Research on Workplace Incivility and its Connection to Practice” In J. Greenberg (Ed.) Insidious Workplace Behavior. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associate, Inc.

Pearson, C.M., Andersson, L.A. and Porath, C.L. (2005) “Workplace Incivility”In P. Spector & S. Fox (Eds.) Counterproductive Workplace Behavior: Investigations of Actors and Targets, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 256-309.

Pearson, C.M., & Porath, C.L. (2005.) "On the Nature, Consequences and Remedies of Incivility: No Time for 'Nice'? Think Again." Academy of Management Executive, 19: 7-18.

Incivility, or employees’ lack of regard for one another, is costly to organizations in subtle and pervasive ways. Although uncivil behaviors occur commonly, many organizations fail to recognize them, few understand their harmful effects, and most managers and executives are ill equipped to deal with them. Over the past eight years, as we have learned about this phenomenon through interviews, focus groups, questionnaires, experiments and executive forums with more than 2400 people across the U.S. and Canada, we have found that incivility causes its targets, witnesses and additional stakeholders to act in ways that erode organizational values and deplete organizational resources. Because of their experiences of workplace incivility, employees decrease work effort, time on the job, productivity and performance. Where incivility is not curtailed, job satisfaction and organizational loyalty diminish, as well. Some employees leave their jobs, solely because of the impact of this subtle form of deviance. Most of these consequences occur without organizational awareness. In addition to detailing the nature of incivility and its consequences, we provide keys to recognizing and dealing with habitual instigators, as well as remedies that are being used effectively by organizations to curtail and correct employee-to-employee incivility.

Pearson, C. and Porath, C. (2004) “On Incivility, Its Impact and Directions for Future Research" In R. Griffin & A. O'Leary-Kelly. The Dark Side of Organizational Behavior, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 403-425.

Pearson, C.M., & Porath, C.L. (2003.) "Do Something: He’s About to Snap." Harvard Business Review. July.

*Reprinted: "Do Something: He’s About to Snap." Harvard Case Collection.

Pearson, C., Andersson, L., & Wegner, J. (2001.) "When workers flout convention: A study of workplace incivility." Human Relations, 54: 1387-1419.

Many organizations are concerned about the potential for workplace aggression and violence, yet pay little heed to lesser forms of interpersonal and organizational mistreatment. Drawing from knowledge and experiences of managers, attorneys, law enforcement officers and emergency medical professionals, we report a multi-method, multidisciplinary inductive study addressing two questions: (I) what is the nature of workplace incivility and how does incivility differ from and fit among other types of workplace mistreatment; and (2) what are some implications of incivility for employees and organizations?

Andersson, L. and Pearson, C. (1999) "Tit-for-Tat? The Spiraling Effect of Incivility in the Workplace," Academy of Management Review, 24 (3): 452-471.

Pearson, C.M., Andersson, L., & Porath, C.L. (2000.) "Assessing and Attacking Workplace Incivility." Organizational Dynamics, 29: 123-137.

Pearson, C., (1998) “Organizations as Targets and Triggers of Aggression and Violence,” Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 15: 197-223.