A sleep and self-control model of cyber incivility at work

Abstract

Objectives: To conduct an empirical test of a conceptual model in which sleep duration would have an indirect negative effect on cyber incivility at work, mediated by self-regulatory fatigue and moderated by agreeableness.

Design: A 2-week daily diary study in which employees completed daily surveys in the mornings and at the end of the workday.

Setting: An observational study which measured sleep and work behaviors in the daily work lives of our participants.

Participants: One hundred thirty-one adults who were full-time employees and were also enrolled in a 2-year Executive Post Graduate Program at a university in India.

Measurement: Participants completed a baseline survey which included agreeableness as well as demographics and person-level control variables. At 7 AM each workday, we sent participants the morning survey which included the sleep measure. At 4 PM each workday, we sent participant the end of workday survey which included measures of self-regulatory fatigue, cyber incivility, and day-level control variables. Participants completed a total of 945 morning surveys and 843 afternoon surveys.

Results: Results supported our model. Sleep duration was negatively associated with self-regulatory fatigue, which was positively related to cyber incivility. Agreeableness moderated the relationship between sleep duration and self-regulatory fatigue, as well as the indirect effect of sleep duration on cyber incivility.

Conclusion: Employees have more self-regulatory fatigue and thus engage in higher levels of cyber incivility at work after a shorter night of sleep, especially if those employees are low in agreeableness.

Keywords: Agreeableness; Cyber incivility; Experience sampling; Self-regulation; Sleep.