Passive cyber incivility, with its ambiguity and offensive nature, can have a detrimental impact on employees’ well-being and negative work consequences. To explore passive cyber incivility in depth, we examined its effects through both motivational and affective channels. Over the course of a month, this study conducted a three-wave survey across industries, involving a sample of 306 employees. Results showed that passive cyber incivility has no direct impact on work engagement. Instead, it hampered work engagement through the serial mediation of intrinsic motivation and emotional exhaustion. Overall, this study aims not only to raise awareness of the risks associated with passive cyber incivility but also to contribute to the existing literature on work engagement by investigating the mediating processes that have not been sufficiently studied.

As a low-intensity stressor with ambiguous intent, workplace incivility has sparked debate regarding its real impact. A key unresolved question is how daily incivility elicits specific cognitive processes that lead to sustained exhaustion over time. This study examines cognitive depletion-a critical state linked to impaired job performance-by investigating its relationship with workplace incivility and the mediating roles of catastrophizing and positive reappraisal across different time frames. Using a hybrid methodological approach that combines a five-day daily diary study with a three-wave longitudinal survey spanning two months, we captured both immediate and cumulative cognitive processes. Results revealed a significant direct effect of workplace incivility on cognitive depletion. Moreover, catastrophizing served as a salient depletion pathway, whereas insufficient positive reappraisal represented a failed protection pathway. These findings highlight that excessive negative interpretation of uncivil experiences, coupled with a diminished capacity for positive reframing, constitutes a critical mechanism driving cognitive depletion.

Purpose: This study aims to examine how employees’ perceptions of their coworkers’ artificial intelligence (AI) knowledge influence their own tendency to withhold AI-related knowledge and explore the mediating and moderating mechanisms that explain this process. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 236 employees across three time points. Hypotheses were tested using regression analysis and bootstrapping methods. Findings: Drawing on interdependence theory, we reveal that employees who perceive their coworkers as more proficient in AI experience heightened job insecurity, which drives AI-knowledge withholding. Organizational AI readiness moderates the indirect effect of perceived coworker AI knowledge on AI-knowledge withholding via job insecurity. Originality/value: This study enhances understanding of knowledge withholding during AI transitions and offers actionable insights for organizations to minimize counterproductive knowledge behaviors.