Despite accumulated research on workplace cyber incivility, we still have little knowledge of third person’s emotional and behavioral responses after witnessing cyber incivility. This research extends cyber incivility research by investigating whether and how third parties respond to workplace cyber incivility. Drawing on affective events and affective adaptation theories, we posit that witnessed workplace cyber incivility triggers both positive and negative emotions to victims and perpetrators respectively. We further posit that third person’s affective (sympathy vs. anger) and behavioral responses (support vs. retribution) to cyber incivility will be contingent on their own incivility experience. Findings from three experiments in the virtual context (online meeting, email, and chat group) confirm our predictions and offer implications for research and practice.
