Development and Validation of the Perceived Introversion Mistreatment Scale

Perceived introversion mistreatment (PIM) has been discussed extensively in the popular press and online community, but has yet to be studied empirically, despite negative implications of PIM for employees and organizations. To assist fellow researchers who are interested in conducting research on this topic, the purpose of the present study was to develop and provide initial validation evidence for a measure of PIM. This study incorporated five independent samples, 974 participants, and multiwave (three months between administrations) and multisource data (social network individuals and work peers). The results indicate that the 10-item Perceived Introversion Mistreatment Scale (PIMS) is a reliable, unidimensional measure whose measurement is not biased by affect and is related to but discriminant from age, gender, and ethnic discrimination in addition to incivility, bullying, perceived organizational support, and leader member exchange. Further, PIM predicted CWB-O, symptoms of poor physical health, anxiety, depression, job satisfaction, and affective commitment above and beyond several mistreatment measures. Overall, the PIMS displays satisfactory psychometric properties and can offer valuable insight into workplace mistreatment beyond the topics currently studied in the mistreatment literature. Directions for future research and limitations are discussed.