Incivility and Counterproductive Work Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model of Emotional Regulation and Psychological Distress

This research aims to extend the literature on stress by exploring the relationship between incivility and employees' counterproductive work behavior (CWB). We investigate the mediating role of psychological distress (PD) to understand the relationship of family and workplace incivility with CWB. The study also evaluates the moderation effect of emotional regulation between incivility and PD. Analysis of three-wave lagged data (N=328), collected from bank employees in Pakistan, indicates that PD mediates the effect of family and workplace incivility on CWB and emotional regulation moderates the effect of family and workplace incivility on PD. Our findings highlight the fact that emotional regulation and PD are important mechanisms in the incivility–CWB relationship. The inclusion of these two constructs is a key to understanding the relationships among family incivility, workplace incivility, and work-related outcomes. The paper concludes with a discussion of theoretical and practical implications.