Workplace incivility: A retrospective review and future research agenda

Workplace incivility (WI), since its formalization as a research construct in 1999, has come to occupy an increasingly important place in scientific discourse, resulting in exponential growth in its research output. WI is servere as it is widely considered as the “cancer” of the workplace, thereby calling for urgent and serious attention. The persistence of WI and its continued research further highlight the all-pervasive nature of this unprofessional behavior. The goal of the present study is to map the terrain of extant research on WI, conducted over 22 years (1999–2021), using a bibliometric analysis and the theory–characteristics–context–methodology (TCCM) framework for greater efficiency and objectivity. Using data of 382 publications retrieved from the Scopus database, we investigate the output and obtain information about influential authors, countries and territories, institutions, publications, and outlets for WI research. We also engage in a network analysis to unearth relationships between topics represented through keywords to identify the themes and sub-themes in the body of WI research. Finally, using the TCCM framework, we identify important gaps in the WI literature, such as the lack of WI research across cross cultural settings, the lack of sectorial comparisons on the WI phenomenon, and the lack of analyses of both pre-emptive and redressal interventions to prevent and address WI, among other gaps. Finally, we outline a set of 12 specific recommendations for future research on WI.