Why do leaders behave uncivilly: A new perspective on workplace mistreatment and power

This conceptual paper asks why leaders engage in uncivil conduct toward their subordinates, and offers a new perspective on workplace mistreatment in which power plays a central role. Existing research on workplace incivility has largely emphasized peer-to-peer dynamics, while work on destructive leadership has focused on extreme forms such as abusive supervision. Incivility perpetrated by leaders falls between these streams: it is subtle, ambiguous, and often normalized, yet it carries the weight of hierarchical power. Drawing on literature on power, status, and interpersonal mistreatment, I argue that power asymmetries create a specific set of conditions that make leaders both more likely to behave uncivilly and less likely to be sanctioned when they do. I outline three interrelated mechanisms: power lowers perspective-taking and inhibition, which raises the frequency of impulsive uncivil acts; hierarchical distance reduces accountability, because subordinates face high costs in challenging the leader; and organizational norms often code uncivil behavior by leaders as "toughness" or "standards," masking it as task-oriented rather than interpersonal misconduct. The paper integrates these mechanisms into a framework that positions leader incivility as a distinct category of workplace mistreatment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, including implications for leader development, organizational accountability structures, and the design of interventions that target the power-based roots of leader incivility rather than only its surface behaviors.