Does psychological capital moderate the degree of stress and turnover intention associated with experienced workplace incivility? : an exploration in the South African context

It is of theoretical and practical interest to establish the relationship between experienced workplace incivility and stress and experienced workplace incivility and turnover intentions as well as the potential role of Psychological Capital (PsyCap) in influencing these relationships. The objective of the study was to explore the negative effects resulting from the experience of workplace incivility and whether employees’ levels of PsyCap reinforce or attenuate the negative effects associated with experiences of uncivil workplace behaviour. A cross-sectional study with a descriptive design was conducted. Data was gathered by means of a survey that was constructed for the purpose of the study. The survey contained the Uncivil Workplace Behaviour Questionnaire (UWBQ), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), a shortened Turnover Intention Scale (TIS-6) and the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ- 24). Convenience sampling was employed to collect data from 271 employees from local organisations, the majority of which were qualified professionals in the Western Cape and Gauteng regions. After removing 83 participants due to incomplete data and a low response rate, descriptive statistics, the non-parametric Spearman’s rho and two separate Moderated Multiple Regression (MMR) analyses were used to analyse the responses of the reduced samples (n = 188 and n = 185). The first MMR revealed extreme cases which prompted their exclusion which, after a secondary MMR, significantly changed the hypothesised relationships. The results showed that employees reported having experienced workplace incivility and that these experiences were related to both higher levels of stress and turnover intentions. PsyCap was found to influence only the experienced workplace incivility-turnover intention relationship with extreme cases. Participants with higher levels of PsyCap reported higher levels of turnover intention as a result of frequent exposure to workplace incivility suggesting that employers should consider appropriate prevention strategies to reduce its occurrence. Additionally, this study shows the importance of understanding a possibly overlooked antecedent (experienced workplace incivility) of stress and turnover intentions in South African organisations