Dealing with Dark Times: Emotional Dissonance and Workplace Incivility during Environmental Negativity

The environment many public servants now confront are characterized by significant environmental turbulence and an increasingly hostile citizenry. Yet, there is significant variation in the political uncertainty and... [ view full abstract ]

The environment many public servants now confront are characterized by significant environmental turbulence and an increasingly hostile citizenry. Yet, there is significant variation in the political uncertainty and citizen hostility public employees must confront. This paper discusses how variations in political turbulence and engaging a hostile citizenry shape the emotional work experiences for public employees. We argue that when any given employee perceives the combination of political circumstances and job tasks they confront as a threat to their well-being, and believe they lack adequate resources to cope with that threat, they will experience negative emotions. Employees will then engage in counterproductive behaviors to remedy those emotions, unless they are afforded the resources they need to regulate their feelings.