The Differential Reactions to Work Withdrawal Behaviours between Harassed Male and Female Employees

Men and women reacted to workplace incivility differently. Female employees tended to experience and to put up more with workplace incivility than male employees. The current review examined the article, "Don't rock the boat: The moderating role of gender in the relationship between workplace incivility and work withdrawal," written by Loi, Loh & Hine [1] that was published in the "Journal of Management Development." Using a quantitative survey of 317 adult employees working in various Australian companies, the researchers found that gender moderated the relationship between tolerance for workplace incivility and work withdrawal. Specifically, when female employees were exposed to increased workplace incivility tolerance, they decreased their work withdrawal practices. In contrast, as the levels of workplace incivility tolerance increased, men tended to increase their work withdrawal behaviours. However, this trend did not reach statistical significance.