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.

Existing workplace incivility research from the perspective of third parties has been found to be limited in explaining the specific boundary conditions of their constructive responses, such as punishing the instigator and helping the target. The lack of relevant knowledge hinders a comprehensive understanding of the coping strategies favoured by third parties. Building on the deontic model and the value protection model, this research involved two sub-studies with a total of 710 Chinese employees, employing a scenario experiment (Study 1) and a time-lagged survey (Study 2). The results showed that witnessed incivility positively predicted third parties’ workplace ostracism against the instigator, with moral anger acting as a mediator. The research did not identify a direct link between witnessed incivility and third parties’ organisational citizenship behaviour towards the target. However, the mediating role of moral anger between these two variables was found in Study 1. Moreover, Study 1 indicated that political skill strengthened the relationship between witnessed incivility and moral anger, but weakened the relationship between moral anger and third parties’ workplace ostracism against the instigator or their helping behaviour towards the target—findings partially supported by Study 2. These insights provide a practical and theoretical understanding of how organisations can utilise the role of third parties to intervene in workplace incivility effectively.

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.