Can incivility impair team’s creative performance through paralyzing employee’s knowledge sharing? A multi-level approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how a supervisor’s incivility in teams impact team’s creative performance through the mediating factor of knowledge sharing intention among team members. Moreover, the moderating role of collaborative climate was investigated as protector against leaders’ incivility. Design/methodology/approach – The proposed multi-level model was tested by surveying 312 health care providers nested within 42 work units at eight large hospitals in Iran. Multi-level regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Findings – The findings revealed that those team members experiencing incivility from their supervisors are more likely to show reluctance to share knowledge with team members and as a consequence this response further decreases team’s creative performance. However, the climate of collaboration inside hospitals can buffer the negative impact of incivility on their readiness to share knowledge. Practical implications – In team-based organizations, a supervisor’s incivility can stifle the creative performance of his/her team through blocking the knowledge sharing of members. First, human resource department should have some plans to curtail incivility of supervisors. Second, establishing a climate of collaboration and trust among team members can mitigate the insidious effects of supervisors’ incivility. Originality/value – In prior research studies, the role of incivility on individual outcomes has been highlighted. This paper, according to the best knowledge of the author, is the first considering the negative impact of incivility on team’s performance. Moreover, collaborative climate is a novel moderator considered in this study.