The long arm of email incivility: Transmitted stress to the partner and partner work withdrawal

Young Ah Park, Verena C. Haun

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

As email communication becomes increasingly pervasive in the workplace, incivility can be manifested through work email. Integrating conservation of resources theory with spillover–crossover frameworks, the authors propose and test a couple-dyadic model regarding email incivility's effects on work withdrawal for employees and their domestic partners. Online survey data were collected from 167 dual-earner couples at multiple time points. Results from actor–partner interdependence mediation and moderation modeling showed that when employees experience more frequent incivility via work email during a week, they withdraw from work the following week. Furthermore, employees transmit their stress to their domestic partner on the weekend, and, as a result, the partner also withdraws from work the next week. More important, employees' negative work reflection during the weekend exacerbates the effects of email incivility on stress transmission to their partner, whereas the partner's negative work reflection during the weekend aggravated the effects of transmitted stress on their work withdrawal. The study sheds light on the stress effects of email incivility that span work and family domains and affect both employees and their partners.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1268-1282
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of Organizational Behavior
Volume39
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2018

Keywords

  • APIM
  • email incivility
  • negative work reflection
  • spillover–crossover
  • stress transmission
  • work withdrawal

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Applied Psychology
  • Sociology and Political Science
  • General Psychology
  • Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

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