The academic scholarship on workplace incivility has scarcely explored the role of social networks. To respond to this research gap, consistent with social exchange theory, we examined how one chooses to react to incivility instigated by a known coworker. We conducted a social network survey (Study 1 – 129 university faculty members from 13 faculties) and a social network survey-based daily diary study conducted in two waves across seven days (Study 2 – 106 university faculty members from 11 faculties) to test the role of the four types of social network ties - close, problematic, ambivalent, or indifferent, in the relationship between incivility and two types of behavioural reactions to workplace incivility – reciprocation and non-reciprocation. The two studies find evidence of the moderating role of problematic and indifferent ties in the relationship between incivility and non-reciprocation, suggesting that social network ties are one plausible explanation for within-person differences in reacting to uncivil events. The study discusses one of the crucial contextual variables of workplace incivility, i.e., social network tie type, in the context of theoretical, methodological, and managerial implications.
