Workplace incivility: Insidious, pervasive and harmful

Workplace incivility is the term used to describe workplace behaviour that is rude, disruptive, and disrespectful and that promotes discord and disharmony (Anderson et al., 2022; Clark et al., 2020, Wilson et al., 2023). It differs from other deviant workplace behaviour, such as bullying and harassment. Workplace bullying refers to a persistent, targeted, deliberate pattern of behaviour that occurs over time and is intended to demean, humiliate or intimidate a target (Arnetz et al., 2019). Workplace harassment most often refers to unwelcome conduct related to characteristics such as gender, religion, race, sexual orientation, disability or other protected characteristics (Gov. UK, 2024) that is designed to create a hostile work environment.