The relationship between workplace incivility and the intention to share knowledge: The moderating effects of collaborative climate and personality traits.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between the experience of workplace incivility and the intention to share knowledge. Additionally, this study explores the moderating effect of collaborative climate and individual personality traits on the relationship between them. The data were obtained from twenty-two Korean companies. The survey consisted of five sections used to measure the experience of workplace incivility, the intention to share knowledge, collaborative climate, individual personality, and demographics. In total, 494 surveys were returned out of 600, and 476 were cleaned for data analysis (79.3%).

Reliability tests, correlations, hierarchical multiple regressions and ANOVAs were employed to investigate the research hypotheses. The results of this study showed a negative relationship between the experience of workplace incivility and the intention to share knowledge. Additionally, this study showed the moderating effect of an individual personality trait, conscientiousness, on the relationship between the experience of workplace incivility and the intention to share knowledge. More specifically, conscientious people are more likely to share knowledge, in spite of the experience of workplace incivility.

Implications for future research include further development of workplace incivility measurement tools for Korean settings. Additionally, there are plenty of areas to be explored in order to show the ill effects of workplace incivility, such as leader-member relationships, employee engagement, and organizational citizenship behaviors. In addition, implications for practitioners include providing orientation and training sessions about the concept of workplace incivility, and developing interventions for workplace incivility to prevent its prevalence in organizations. For victims to report incidents of workplace incivility, the 360-degree feedback system should be considered.