Emotional impact of workplace incivility and verbal abuse at work: Daily recovery protective role

The aim was to study daily fluctuations from workplace incivility and verbal abuse in the emotional well-being of employees and examine the daily role of recovery. It was conducted a diary study over five consecutive working days (total of 525 days) with 105 employees. It was evaluated on two different times, general and diary moments. Diary measure was completed in a work week, three times per day, morning, afternoon and night. Multilevel modeling showed significant results for workplace incivility and verbal abuse as predictors of emotional exhaustion, as well as an impact of all these variables on negative affect at night. However, nonsignificant relationships were found for positive affect at night. Recovery from daily work was a key factor predicting affect at night. Relaxation showed main effects on negative affect at night and mastery on positive affect at night. Both psychological detachment and relaxation showed a moderating role. The present diary study of occupational health psychology helps us achieve greater knowledge in this area and contribute on the prevention of aggression in the organizational context.