Workplace negative interpersonal relationships: effects of incivility, aggression and mistreatment on employees’ well-being and relative protective factors

SYMPOSIUM ABSTRACT/INTEGRATED SUMMARY State of art: Workplace incivility, mistreatment and aggression may undermine employees’ wellbeing and job performance with tangible costs for organizations. Investigating these effects and protective factors is crucial to formulate preventive measures and tailored interventions for victims. This symposium involves four papers which examine these issues within various contexts. New perspectives/contributions: The four papers in this symposium contribute to a better understanding of the consequences of negative interpersonal experiences (Sommovigo et al.; Yaranon et al.) and strategies to mitigate these effects (Viotti et al., Di Fabio). The first two papers focus on the impact of workplace mistreatment. The paper by Sommovigo and colleagues reveals that customer mistreatment leads workers to experience negative emotions and cognitive impairment, using an experimental design across two countries. Yaranon and colleagues show the detrimental effects of incivility on healthcare professionals’ well-being and job satisfaction using a longitudinal design. The last two papers concentrate on ways to mitigate these negative effects. The paper by Di Fabio finds that workplace relational civility contributes to both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. In the final paper, Viotti and colleagues demonstrate the role that prevention climate exerts on workplace violence and its subsequent impact on well-being, again focusing on the healthcare context. Research/practical implications: These four papers underline the substantial impact that negative interpersonal encounters in the workplace have on employees’ well-being, showing the importance of promoting workplace relational civility and prevention climate to mitigate some of these effects.