A culture of incivility? Individual and workplace level effects of workplace incivility and civility norms on perceived quality of work and burnout
Holm, Kristoffer LU ; Cowen Forssell, Rebecka and Jönsson, Sandra LU
(2026)
In Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health
- Abstract
While workplace incivility has been described as a shared stressor in organizations, it has predominately been studied on an individual level of analysis. Few studies have explored shared perceptions of workplace incivility, and how shared perceptions relate to organizational or individual outcomes. The aim of this study was to explore how workplace incivility and civility norms, on both an individual and workplace level, relate to perceived quality of work and indicators of burnout. Questionnaires were collected from N = 257 respondents, across fifteen different workplaces, providing data on both the individual and workplace level. The results showed that experienced incivility, but not civility norms, predicted quality of work... (More)
While workplace incivility has been described as a shared stressor in organizations, it has predominately been studied on an individual level of analysis. Few studies have explored shared perceptions of workplace incivility, and how shared perceptions relate to organizational or individual outcomes. The aim of this study was to explore how workplace incivility and civility norms, on both an individual and workplace level, relate to perceived quality of work and indicators of burnout. Questionnaires were collected from N = 257 respondents, across fifteen different workplaces, providing data on both the individual and workplace level. The results showed that experienced incivility, but not civility norms, predicted quality of work (negatively) and burnout (positively) on both the individual and workplace level. Moreover, the relationship between workplace civility norms and burnout as well as perceived quality of work was mediated by workplace level incivility. Taken together, there was an additive impact of workplace level incivility on both perceived work quality and burnout beyond the individual level. The findings support that incivility can be conceptualized as a workplace level problem which consequently could reflect the social culture of a work unit, rather than shortcomings of individuals.
(Less)
- author
- Holm, Kristoffer
LU
; Cowen Forssell, Rebecka
and Jönsson, Sandra
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- in press
- subject
- keywords
- burnout, work quality, workplace civility, workplace culture, Workplace incivility
- in
- Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health
- publisher
- Routledge
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105032558900
- ISSN
- 1555-5240
- DOI
- 10.1080/15555240.2026.2640033
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2026 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
- id
- 5461ce5f-acd4-4cb6-8723-b11172642666
- date added to LUP
- 2026-04-22 15:55:19
- date last changed
- 2026-04-22 15:56:09
@article{5461ce5f-acd4-4cb6-8723-b11172642666,
abstract = {{<p>While workplace incivility has been described as a shared stressor in organizations, it has predominately been studied on an individual level of analysis. Few studies have explored shared perceptions of workplace incivility, and how shared perceptions relate to organizational or individual outcomes. The aim of this study was to explore how workplace incivility and civility norms, on both an individual and workplace level, relate to perceived quality of work and indicators of burnout. Questionnaires were collected from N = 257 respondents, across fifteen different workplaces, providing data on both the individual and workplace level. The results showed that experienced incivility, but not civility norms, predicted quality of work (negatively) and burnout (positively) on both the individual and workplace level. Moreover, the relationship between workplace civility norms and burnout as well as perceived quality of work was mediated by workplace level incivility. Taken together, there was an additive impact of workplace level incivility on both perceived work quality and burnout beyond the individual level. The findings support that incivility can be conceptualized as a workplace level problem which consequently could reflect the social culture of a work unit, rather than shortcomings of individuals.</p>}},
author = {{Holm, Kristoffer and Cowen Forssell, Rebecka and Jönsson, Sandra}},
issn = {{1555-5240}},
keywords = {{burnout; work quality; workplace civility; workplace culture; Workplace incivility}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Routledge}},
series = {{Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health}},
title = {{A culture of incivility? Individual and workplace level effects of workplace incivility and civility norms on perceived quality of work and burnout}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15555240.2026.2640033}},
doi = {{10.1080/15555240.2026.2640033}},
year = {{2026}},
}