An affective events theory viewpoint of the relationship between incivility and potential outcomes

This conceptual paper applies affective events theory (AET) to the study of workplace incivility and its downstream outcomes. AET posits that everyday work events generate affective reactions, which in turn shape employees' attitudes and behaviors. Although a sizable literature has documented consequences of experiencing uncivil acts, the theoretical pathways linking such episodes to employee responses remain underspecified. We argue that incivility operates as a negative affective event that triggers short-term affective states and, over time, shapes stable work attitudes such as job satisfaction and job insecurity. Through those attitudes, incivility is expected to influence behaviors relevant to organizational performance and innovation, including intrapreneurial behavior. We integrate findings from the incivility literature with core AET propositions to develop a multilevel model in which situational features of incivility (source, frequency, and visibility) affect discrete emotions, which accumulate into attitudinal change and behavioral consequences. Implications for theory, measurement, and management practice are discussed, including how organizations can design work environments that reduce the frequency of negative affective events and buffer employees against their cumulative effects. The paper sets the stage for subsequent empirical tests of the proposed AET-based model of workplace incivility.