Put you down versus tune you out: Further understanding active and passive e-mail incivility.

Although e-mail incivility is becoming a growing concern in the workplace, it remains an understudied topic. Scholars have paid inadequate attention to its dimensionality (i.e., active and passive e-mail incivility) and its impact on well-being outcomes, thus precluding a more comprehensive understanding of its implications in the workplace. To address these gaps, we conducted two studies to investigate the nature and outcomes of e-mail incivility. In Study 1, we surveyed a sample of working employees about their e-mail incivility experiences at work and collected their appraisals of a discrete e-mail incivility event. Confirmatory factor analysis results provide support for the empirical distinction between the 2 dimensions. Findings from event-level appraisals highlight that active e-mail incivility leads to a greater level of emotionality appraisal, whereas passive e-mail incivility is viewed as more ambiguous. In Study 2, we conducted a diary study to examine the spillover effects of e-mail incivility on well-being. Multilevel modeling results indicate that passive e-mail incivility is positively associated with insomnia, which then leads to heightened negative affect at the beginning of the workday. Overall, this research clarifies the nature of e-mail incivility dimensions, highlights their detrimental effects on employee well-being, and identifies important implications for occupational health scholars and practitioners. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

One Climate or Many: Examining the Structural Distinctiveness of Safety, Health, and Stress Prevention Climate Measures.

OBJECTIVE: This study explores the structural distinctiveness of safety, health, and stress prevention climate scales and examines whether these measures predict safety, physical health, and mental health outcomes over time. METHODS: We obtained samples of university students, Amazon Mechanical Turk workers, and firefighters to assess the dimensionality of the three climate foci, and provide content, construct, and criterion validity of the three measures. RESULTS: Findings from our study suggest that the constructs of safety, health, and stress prevention climate are psychometrically distinct, as well as demonstrate content, construct, and criterion validity evidence. CONCLUSION: This study provides preliminary evidence for integrating the constructs of safety, health, and stress prevention climate in the Total Worker Health™ framework for predicting safety-, health-, and stress-related outcomes.

Further understanding incivility in the workplace: The effects of gender, agency, and communion.

Research conducted on workplace incivility-a low intensity form of deviant behavior-has generally shown that women report higher levels of incivility at work. However, to date, it is unclear as to whether women are primarily treated uncivilly by men (i.e., members of the socially dominant group/out-group) or other women (i.e., members of in-group) in organizations. In light of different theorizing surrounding gender and incivility, we examine whether women experience increased incivility from other women or men, and whether this effect is amplified for women who exhibit higher agency and less communion at work given that these traits and behaviors violate stereotypical gender norms. Across three complementary studies, results indicate that women report experiencing more incivility from other women than from men, with this effect being amplified for women who are more agentic at work. Further, agentic women who experience increased female-instigated incivility from their coworkers report lower well-being (job satisfaction, psychological vitality) and increased work withdrawal (turnover intentions). Theoretical implications tied to gender and incivility are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Occupational stress and mental health symptoms: Examining the moderating effect of work recovery strategies in firefighters.

The goal of this research was to examine the moderating effect of work recovery strategies on the relationship between occupational stress experienced by firefighters and mental health symptoms. Work recovery strategies were identified through semistructured interviews with 20 firefighters and a literature search on recovery strategies. A total of 7 work recovery strategies emerged using the 2 methods: work-related talks, stress-related talks, time with coworkers/supervisor, exercise, recreational activities, relaxation, and mastery experiences. Using a prospective study design with a 1-month time interval in a sample of 268 firefighters, experienced occupational stress at Time 1 was positively related to mental health symptoms at Time 2. In addition, with the exception of spending time with coworkers/supervisor, exercise and mastery experiences, recovery strategies at Time 1 were negatively related to mental health symptoms at Time 2. Lastly, all work recovery strategies, except stress-related talks and relaxation, moderated the relationship between experienced occupational stress at Time 1 and mental health symptoms at Time 2. Specifically, the positive relationship between experienced occupational stress and mental health symptoms was stronger when firefighters engaged in low, rather than high, work recovery strategies. Implications for research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Job burnout in mental health providers: A meta-analysis of 35 years of intervention research.

Burnout is prevalent among mental health providers and is associated with significant employee, consumer, and organizational costs. Over the past 35 years, numerous intervention studies have been conducted but have yet to be reviewed and synthesized using a quantitative approach. To fill this gap, we performed a meta-analysis on the effectiveness of burnout interventions for mental health workers. We completed a systematic literature search of burnout intervention studies that spanned more than 3 decades (1980 to 2015). Each eligible study was independently coded by 2 researchers, and data were analyzed using a random-effects model with effect sizes based on the Hedges' g statistic. We computed an overall intervention effect size and performed moderator analyses. Twenty-seven unique samples were included in the meta-analysis, representing 1,894 mental health workers. Interventions had a small but positive effect on provider burnout (Hedges' g = .13, p = .006). Moderator analyses suggested that person-directed interventions were more effective than organization-directed interventions at reducing emotional exhaustion (Qbetween = 6.70, p = .010) and that job training/education was the most effective organizational intervention subtype (Qbetween = 12.50, p < .001). Lower baseline burnout levels were associated with smaller intervention effects and accounted for a significant proportion of effect size variability. The field has made limited progress in ameliorating mental health provider burnout. Based on our findings, we suggest that researchers implement a wider breadth of interventions that are tailored to address unique organizational and staff needs and that incorporate longer follow-up periods. (PsycINFO Database Record

Don't fear the reaper: trait death anxiety, mortality salience, and occupational health.

Despite multiple calls for research, there has been little effort to incorporate topics regarding mortality salience and death anxiety into workplace literature. As such, the goals of the current study were to (a) examine how trait differences in death anxiety relate to employee occupational health outcomes and (b) examine how death anxiety might exacerbate the negative effects of mortality salience cues experienced at work. In Study 1, we examined how death anxiety affected nurses in a multitime point survey. These results showed that trait death anxiety was associated with increased burnout and reduced engagement and that death anxiety further exacerbated the relationship between mortality salience cues (e.g., dealing with injured and dying patients) and burnout. These results were replicated and extended in Study 2, which examined the impact of death anxiety in firefighters. In this multitime point study, death anxiety related to burnout, engagement, and absenteeism. The results further showed that death anxiety moderated the relationship between mortality cues and burnout, where people high in trait death anxiety experience higher levels of burnout as a result of mortality cues than people lower in death anxiety. Across the 2 studies, despite differences in the methods (e.g., time lag; measures), the effect sizes and the form of the significant interactions were quite similar. Overall, these results highlight the importance of understanding death anxiety in the workplace, particularly in occupations where mortality salience cues are common. We discuss recommendations, such as death education and vocational counseling, and provide some avenues for future research.

Employee adiposity and incivility: establishing a link and identifying demographic moderators and negative consequences.

The prevalence of increased adiposity among employees in the American workplace has resulted in significant economic costs to organizations. Unfortunately, relatively little research has examined the effects of excess adiposity on employees themselves. As a step toward remedying this, the current study examined a previously unknown link between adiposity and incivility, and how this might impact employee burnout and withdrawal. A student sample was used to initially establish a link between incivility and adiposity, and an applied sample of employees from across the United States was used to more fully test the relationships among incivility, adiposity, burnout, and withdrawal. Finally, the moderating effects of sex and race on these relationships were examined. Preliminary data from 341 student employees revealed that being overly adipose was related to greater reports of workplace incivility, with the effect strongest for those classified as obese. An interaction between sex and adiposity was also found, as well as a three-way interaction among sex, race, and adiposity. These relationships were replicated using a nationwide sample of 528 full-time employees. An interaction between race and adiposity was also found in this second sample. Finally, a model was tested in which incivility was shown to partially mediate the positive relationship between adiposity and the outcome of withdrawal, with both sex and race acting as moderators. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings and future directions are discussed.

The differential effects of interpersonal conflict from customers and coworkers: trait anger as a moderator.

Interpersonal conflict (IC) at work is a frequently experienced type of workplace mistreatment that has been linked to a host of negative workplace outcomes. Previous research has shown that IC can have differential effects based on source, but this has not yet been investigated in terms of customer IC versus coworker IC. To remedy this oversight in the literature, we used a multimethod, multitime point design to compare IC from customers and coworkers experienced by 75 call center employees. Primarily, we investigated burnout, physical health symptoms, and task performance. Results indicated that customer IC was more strongly related to both personal and organizational outcomes. Additionally, trait anger was investigated as a moderator of these relationships, and the results indicated that people who are easy to anger may be more likely to experience negative effects as a result of customer IC. Implications of these findings, limitations, and areas for future research are discussed.