Hostile Attribution Bias and Negative Reciprocity Beliefs Exacerbate Incivility's Effects on Interpersonal Deviance

Long Zeng Wu, Haina Zhang, Randy K CHIU, Ho Kwong Kwan, Xiaogang He

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

    76 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating roles of hostile attribution bias and negative reciprocity beliefs in the relationship between workplace incivility, as perceived by employees, and their interpersonal deviance. Data were collected using a three-wave survey research design. Participants included 233 employees from a large manufacturing company in China. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the hypothesized relationships. Our study revealed that hostile attribution bias and negative reciprocity beliefs strengthened the positive relationship between workplace incivility and interpersonal deviance. This relationship was the most positive when both hostile attribution bias and negative reciprocity beliefs were high. The findings provided evidence that directing employees to depress hostile attribution bias and negative reciprocity beliefs may attenuate the effects of workplace incivility on interpersonal deviance. Implications for theory, research, and management practice are discussed.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)189-199
    Number of pages11
    JournalJournal of Business Ethics
    Volume120
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Mar 2014

    Scopus Subject Areas

    • Business and International Management
    • General Business,Management and Accounting
    • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
    • Economics and Econometrics
    • Law

    User-Defined Keywords

    • Deviance
    • Hostile attribution bias
    • Incivility
    • Negative reciprocity beliefs

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