Jennifer Bunk

The role of appraisals and emotions in understanding experiences of workplace incivility.

Theoretically grounded in both the cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotions and affect events theory, the present research used multiple analytic techniques and positioned appraisals and emotions as key variables in understanding the experience of incivility at work. Data consisted of survey responses from a stratified random sample of 522 U.S. working adults. K-means cluster analyses revealed interindividual differences in cognitive/emotional responding to workplace incivility experiences. In addition, multiple mediation analyses revealed that optimism and emotionality may play important roles in showing why the experience of incivility is related to job-related outcomes. The results help to advance workplace mistreatment research and suggest possible strategies for organizations to maintain civil working environments.

Sensitivity to interpersonal treatment in the workplace: Scale development and initial validation: Sensitivity to interpersonal treatment

The authors designed the sensitivity to interpersonal treatment (SIT) scale to assess how strongly individuals react to the interpersonal interactions in their workplaces. Questionnaire responses from 563 working undergraduates and 446 working adults provided data for this study. Details on the development of the new scale are provided along with initial evidence for its validity. Results indicated that the SIT is an internally consistent scale composed of two factors: self-treatment and other-treatment. Suggestions for future research that will develop a further understanding of SIT in the workplace are discussed.

Understanding Work-to-Family Conflict among Self-employed Workers: Utilising a Cognitive Appraisal Framework

Acknowledging that there is diversity in the nature of work arrangements among the ranks of the self-employed, the authors sought to achieve a better understanding of work–family conflict among self-employed workers by using cognitive appraisal theory as a framework (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) to consider the roles that both situation (work arrangement and number of hours worked) and person (preferred number of hours worked) factors play in predicting work-to-family conflict. Empirical data drawn from the 1997 and 2002 versions of the National Study of the Changing Workforce was used to test hypotheses. Results from both datasets indicated that small business owners (SBOs) were found to work significantly more hours than self-employed independents (SEIs) and that increased work hours were related to an increase in reported work-to-family conflict. In addition, preferred number of hours worked moderated the negative affect that number of work hours had on work-to-family conflict, although the form of the moderation differed between datasets. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed in light of the clear differences that were found amongst members of the self-employed workforce.

The Gendered Nature of Workplace Mistreatment

There is a fairly vast literature on workplace violence and aggression; two entire books recently were published on the topic (Griffin & O’Leary-Kelly, 2004; Kelloway, Barling, & Hurrell, 2006). A gap exists, however, in the analysis of the gendered nature of such experiences. Although empirical and theoretical accounts have appeared here and there, an overview of this scattered work is due. Hence, our goal for the present chapter is to provide a summary of the research and thinking on ways in which workplace violence and aggression are gendered phenomena.