EFFECT OF WORKPLACE INCIVILITY ON EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Abstract

This study has been conducted for the purpose of exploring the fact that whether emotional intelligence is linked with workplace incivility or not. Moreover, it was also searched that which component of EI was closely related to WI. Additionally, this study will also explore the relationship between emotional intelligence and the two sub factors of Big Five Traits Theory agreeableness and extraversion. A questionnaire was designed to serve the purpose of collecting data including four sub-sections covering each variable. 300 questionnaires were circulated for this purpose in various public and private sector organizations, banks, educational institutions, regulatory authorities, etc. 202 surveys were returned and 194 were sort out for data analysis after screening. To investigate the research hypothesis, three tests were conducted comprising of reliability tests, correlations and hierarchical multiple regressions. The results of these tests showed a positive relation between workplace incivility and emotional intelligence. Moreover, a positive relation was also found between emotional intelligence and extraversion. A perfect positive correlation came out to be in between emotional intelligence and agreeableness. Future studies should test if EI recovery from incivility differs across cultures, to build cross-cultural COR theory. Research must explore new digital incivility forms like AI monitoring rudeness or Zoom fatigue, as flexible work evolves beyond email/Slack. Longitudinal experiments are needed to validate which HRM interventions actually reverse EI damage, moving beyond the study’s observational design to casual evidence and whether this damage is temporary or permanent.