Workplace incivility is generally viewed as a deleterious interpersonal stressor. Yet, alternative theories suggest that incivility may have instrumental implications for some targets. Applying signaling theory, we study client-provider relationships in a health care context to unpack linkages between incivility enacted by organizational outsiders and work creativity responses by employee targets. We argue that providers leverage information from client incivility to provide more creative care over time. In Study 1 (N = 186), results suggest that clients may use incivility to signal perceptions of poor treatment quality to providers. In Study 2 (N = 416), results from topic modeling of qualitative data show that providers observe client incivility and believe it can contain valuable information about client satisfaction. In Study 3 (N = 503), providers reported their experiences of client incivility and creativity (incremental and radical) in client care over five waves of data to capture the incubation time that providers may need to reflect on instances of incivility. Employing trait-state-occasion modeling, our findings show that episodic (i.e., higher than normal) client incivility had positive lagged relationships with incremental and radical provider creativity, suggesting that time is needed for providers to process the information contained in the client incivility signal and creatively modify treatment plans. Theoretical and practical implications for workplace incivility and creativity are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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不文明行为可以提供信息吗？客户不文明行为是提供者创造力的信号。

工作场所的不文明行为通常被视为有害的人际压力源。然而，替代理论表明，不文明行为可能对某些目标具有工具性影响。应用信号理论，我们研究医疗保健环境中的客户-提供者关系，以解开组织外人实施的不文明行为与员工目标的工作创造力反应之间的联系。我们认为，随着时间的推移，提供者利用来自客户不文明行为的信息来提供更多创造性的护理。在研究 1 (N = 186) 中，结果表明，客户可能会使用不文明行为来向提供者表明他们对治疗质量不佳的看法。在研究 2 (N = 416) 中，定性数据主题建模的结果表明，提供者观察到客户的不文明行为，并相信它可以包含有关客户满意度的有价值信息。在研究 3 (N = 503) 中，提供者通过五波数据报告了他们在客户护理中的客户不文明行为和创造力（渐进的和激进的）的经历，以捕捉提供者可能需要反思不文明行为实例的潜伏期。采用特征-状态-场合建模，我们的研究结果表明，偶发的（即高于正常情况）客户不文明行为与递增和激进的提供者创造力具有正滞后关系，这表明提供者需要时间来处理客户不文明信号中包含的信息并创造性地修改治疗方案。讨论了工作场所不文明行为和创造力的理论和实践意义。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2022 APA，保留所有权利）。