The impact of head teacher incivility on teacher engagement and safety behavior in secondary schools: the mediating role of perceived insider status

Abstract

PurposeIncivility constitutes an increasing trend in different workplaces across the world. However, incivility has largely been overlooked in public organizational settings and mainly in the field of secondary education. The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the effects of supervisor incivility (SI) on psychological safety and work engagement of teachers of secondary schools, through the schools' level of perceived insider status (PIS).Design/methodology/approachData were collected through an online questionnaire that was based on previously validated scales. The final sample included 396 educators who taught different subjects in a Greek region.FindingsResults revealed a negative correlation between head teacher incivility and teacher attitudes (psychological safety/work engagement) through the mediating role of PIS. However, a direct link between SI and psychological safety was also discovered.Originality/valueThe contribution of the study is in exploring one part of the dark side of leadership behavior, e.g. SI, at school and leadership behavior's effects on teacher attitudes, which remain largely unexplored due to teacher embarrassment or fear in acknowledging supervisor misbehavior. Further, the study does not only examine direct, but also indirect effects of incivility. Finally, the current study is the first study to investigate the phenomenon of SI in the Greek context, therefore, extending the geographical and cultural data base concerning incivility.