The Effect of Paternalism on Incivility: Exploring Incivility Climate as an Important Boundary Condition

In this article, we examine the effects of paternalism on experienced incivility across two studies. Study 1 examines the paternalism—experienced incivility relationship in a sample of health care employees, and Study 2 examines a moderated–mediated relationship, with incivility climate as the moderator of the paternalism—experienced incivility relationship, and counterproductive work behavior as the outcome. Results from these studies suggest that paternalism has a significant positive direct effect on incivility, and an indirect effect on counterproductive work behavior through experienced incivility. Moreover, our results suggest that the relationship between paternalism and experienced incivility is moderated by incivility climate, such that the effect of paternalism on experienced incivility is stronger at higher levels of incivility climate tolerance and lower levels of incivility climate policy