Challenges and Recommendations in the Measurement of Workplace Incivility

Abstract

In recent years, several well-publicized incidents of workplace homicide have greatly increased public awareness of violence and aggression in the workplace (e.g., U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2005) and even have been the subject of "dark" humor (e.g., "going postal"). It has also shown that the prevalence of nonfatal assaults in the workplace has increased considerably, particularly among employees in health care settings (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2006). However, despite the seriousness of both fatal and nonfatal incidents, the fact remains that physical violence in organizational settings is rare.