Linking family incivility to workplace incivility: Mediating role of negative emotions and moderating role of self-efficacy for emotional regulation

The research on work-related antecedents of workplace incivility (WI) is well-established, yet relatively less attention has been paid to non-work-related experiences as key antecedents to employees’ incivility at work. Drawing upon the incivility spiraling framework and spillover theory, we use a moderated-mediation model to investigate the impact of employees’ experience of family incivility on their behavioral WI through the mediation of negative emotions and the moderation of self-efficacy for emotional regulation (SEER). The multisource field data also demonstrate general support for the hypothesized relationships. Findings revealed that negative emotions carry the spiraling effect from family incivility to WI. In addition, SEER moderated the positive direct relationship of experienced family incivility and negative emotions, and indirect association with behavioral WI. These findings have implications for theory and management alike, further suggesting directions for future research.