Incivility is systematically associated with indicators of health, stress, well-being, and the psychosocial work environment

Aim: Incivility is one of the most intrusive forms of antisocial behavior in the workplace. Using a newly constructed, single-item measure of incivility, the aim of the current study was to assess the possible prevalence of incivility in a sample from the Swedish retail industry, and to investigate possible associations between prevalence of incivility and a multitude of indicators of health, stress, well-being, and the psychosocial work environment. Subject and methods: A total of 1014 (20%) individuals enrolled in the cross-sectional study and responded to a questionnaire, partially or fully. We conducted t-tests to assess possible differences in the indicators between those responding “Yes” versus “No” regarding prevalence of incivility at their workplace. Results: Incivility at work was related to statistically significant differences in mean values in 32 out of 33 key indicators of health, well-being, stress, recovery, and the psychosocial work environment. Those reporting a prevalence of incivility systematically exhibited worse ratings. Conclusion: The findings are in line with previous research. Although this study cannot infer causality, the profoundly systematic results indicate that the prevalence of workplace incivility is a bothersome problem that should be addressed. A single item about the prevalence of workplace incivility seems to be a feasible indicator of associations to a wide range of health-, stress-, well-being-, and psychosocially oriented work-related variables.