Academic incivility on job satisfaction and depressivity: can supervisory support be the antidote?

PurposeAcademia is known for its high competitiveness, with prestige and diverse responsibilities and achievements being decisive determinants of success resulting in academic incivility. This paper extends Lazarus and Folkman's theory of stress by examining the moderating role of interpersonal justice (IJ) , as supervisory support, on academics' job satisfaction and depressivity.Design/methodology/approachThe study recruited 185 academics from a public university in Malaysia to participate in a survey. Using the partial least squares- structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis, academic incivility was negatively related to job satisfaction, whilst positively related to depressivity.FindingsAs hypothesized, it was found that the predicted detrimental effect of academic incivility on job satisfaction was buffered by perceiving high IJ from their immediate supervisors, i.e. deans or heads of department. An unanticipated finding was that there was a stronger relationship between academic incivility and depressivity for those academics who perceived high supervisory IJ.Practical implicationsFurther, academic management can formulate and revise zero-incivility policies and promote awareness explaining the detrimental impacts of incivility, despite support systems in academia.Originality/valueThis study provides the first empirical evidence showing the differential impact of supervisory IJ on two conditions of incivility–well-being relationships. Work culture and various sources of incivility should be considered for future research.

The Italian validation of the revised Incivility in Nursing Education survey: preliminary results

Background Incivility in nursing education is defined as rude or disruptive behaviors that can result into psychological or physiological distress for the people involved. Therefore, academic nursing incivility may seriously impact the nursing profession. The revised Incivility in Nursing Education (INE-R) is a validated instrument to measure academic incivility, but it is not available in Italian language. The aim of the study is to translate and validate the INE-R survey instrument with an Italian sample. Methods The Italian version of the INE-R survey was piloted for content and general linguistic clarity. It is currently administered online to nursing faculty (NF) and nursing students (NS) of Sapienza University of Rome. The survey explores uncivil behaviors and their frequency of occurrence among NF and NS. It also collects suggestions for improving the level of academic civility. Results To date, 33 responders (8 NF and 25 NS) have completed the survey, of which 45,5% consider incivility in their department a moderate problem. A common NF uncivil behavior was canceling class without warning (39%), while arriving late for class was common among NS (40%). The top strategies to improve the level of civility in nursing education are the adoption of codes of conduct that define acceptable and unacceptable behaviors (39%) and the provision of training for effective communication and conflict negotiation (33%). The main consequences of incivility in nursing education are inappropriate teaching practice and poor quality education (54,5%). Conclusions Incivility in nursing education negatively affects teaching-learning process and can lead to emotional, or physical distress for faculty staff and students. There is therefore a need for specific policies and continuous monitoring on academic incivility to guarantee a healthy work and study environment. It is important to raise awareness among students and faculty while adopting zero-tolerance policy regarding incivility. Key messages Incivility in nursing education negatively affects teaching-learning process and can lead to emotional, or physical distress for the individuals involved. There is a need for specific policies and continuous monitoring on academic incivility to guarantee a healthy work environment.

Online Academic Incivility Among Adult Learners

More and more faculty who teach online are facing incivility in their classroom. These disruptions impede learners’ development and wellbeing and can negatively impact faculty and institutions of higher education. In this article, we review the consequences of online academic incivility and the situational factors that contribute to these disruptions. In addition, we present promising practices and strategies for faculty, including (a) functional communication, (b) empathy, (c) timely feedback, (d) active listening, and (e) clear and consistent expectations. Faculty members implementing these strategies in their online classes may be useful in reducing the challenges of academic incivilities. Future research directions and practical implications for promoting civil communications are considered.