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

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.