Workplace Incivility, Employee Silence, and Organizational Performance

Abstract

Workplace incivility, defined as low-intensity deviant behavior with ambiguous intent to harm, is common in organizations and is often dismissed as trivial. Yet small acts of disrespect may have large organizational consequences if they teach employees that speaking up is risky or pointless. This paper develops a conceptual model linking workplace incivility to organizational performance through employee silence. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, organizational silence research, and psychological safety, we propose that incivility reduces psychological safety and depletes emotional resources, which in turn increases acquiescent, defensive, and prosocial forms of silence. Silence then impairs information flow, error detection, and learning, thereby lowering organizational performance. We further propose that leader openness, civility climate, and employee power distance orientation condition these relationships. The paper presents a table of constructs, a typology of silence, a flowchart of the proposed process, a research design, and practical implications.

Keywords: workplace incivility, employee silence, voice, psychological safety, organizational performance, conservation of resources.