Is subtle toxicity worse for racial-ethnic minority employees? The impact of coworker incivility on employee well-being

ABSTRACT

The restaurant industry is often described as a toxic workplace due to high levels of incivility and bullying among employees. This paper presents a study investigating the negative influence of workplace incivility conducted by coworkers on employee engagement and employee well-being, and whether these relationships may be stronger for those in racial-ethnic minority groups. Employing a sample of hourly restaurant employees in the United States, we found that workplace incivility negatively impacts engagement and that engagement mediates the relationship between workplace incivility and well-being. Furthermore, those who identified as being in a racial-ethnic minority group perceive the effect to be more detrimental. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Workplace incivility
• employee well-being
• employee engagement
• race/ethnicity

Notes

1. As a robustness test, we analyzed all models excluding demographic control variables – there was no change in patterns of significance or substantive conclusions whether or not these variables were included as controls.