Exploring the Impact of Incivility on Psychological Distress: The Unique Lived Experiences of Women Identifying as Indigenous and as part of the LGBTQ + Community

Organizations are increasingly facing complex issues related to diversity and inclusion. Although overt forms of discrimination might have declined significantly, researchers are now alarmed in the face of insidious forms of “modern” discrimination that are flying under organizational radars despite policies and laws. While incivility has been broadly conceptualized and examined as “generalized” behaviors in organizations, less attention has been dedicated to the “selective” form it can take. The present study tested different aspects of Cortina’s theory of selective incivility as a “modern” manifestation of discrimination. This study extends the theory by being the first to investigate uncivil experiences Indigenous employees might be confronted with in organizations and how it might lead to experiencing higher symptoms of psychological distress. To do so, we collected data from 6706 employees working in a large Canadian public organization who were asked to complete measures of psychological distress and incivility from co-workers and supervisors. According to analyses of parallel mediation, women were less likely to report uncivil treatment from co-workers and direct supervisors than men. Evidence of moderated mediation also emerged, with target gender and Indigenous identity interacting to predict uncivil experiences, such that Indigenous women reported worse treatment from direct supervisors (b = .92, p = .03, ΔR2 = .0007), impacting their level of psychological distress (index = -.21, 95% CI [.01, .41]). Overall, our findings suggest that incivility does not work consistently against women in organizations and that intersectionality plays a role in predicting identity-based mistreatment. Our results also suggest that practitioners should consider an intersectional approach when implementing policies and interventions regarding identity-based mistreatment.