Unmet expectations: How and when illegitimate tasks and perceived support spark workplace incivility

Abstract Oftentimes employees are asked to undertake tasks that are unreasonable or unnecessary, referred to as the illegitimate tasks. Such tasks constitute a distinct and often overlooked stressor that violates employees' expectations about what can legitimately be demanded of them. The current research proposes that such violation of employees' expectations due to illegitimate tasks can turn into impetus for misdirected retaliation towards co‐workers in the form of workplace incivility. Following social cognitive theory, the current study proposes that such misdirected retaliation materializes through the process of moral disengagement by which employees rationalize and justify their mistreatment of co‐workers. Moreover, the current study proposes that an employees' tendency to undertake moral disengagement due to illegitimate tasks further intensifies when perceived support is high rather than low. The current study therefore proposes a moderated mediation model and finds its support through two studies. First, we employed a time‐lagged survey design, collecting data at three time points from hospitality employees from the United States ( N = 222), then a three‐wave panel design with lagged measures across different industries in the United States ( N = 244 ). The theoretical and practical implications along with limitations and future research are discussed.