Goodbye after being hurt: how workplace incivility influences women employees’ urban withdrawal intention

Workplace incivility can precipitate significant social issues warranting further inquiry. In real-world workplace settings, women employees are more prone to experiencing workplace incivility than their male counterparts. If these employees attribute such incivility to their urban environment, it may instigate intentions to withdraw from urban workplaces. In this context, relational mobility and urban livability may play crucial roles. Therefore, in this study, 327 questionnaire responses from 54 cities were analysed using Mplus 8.0 and HLM 6.08 to explore the internal mechanisms of the above four variables. It was concluded that (1) workplace incivility is positively correlated with women employees’ urban withdrawal intention (β = 0.312, p < 0.001), (2) relational mobility negatively impacts women employees’ urban withdrawal intention (β = −0.261, p < 0.001), (3) relationship mobility serves a moderating role in the relationship between workplace incivility and women employees’ urban withdrawal intention (β = 0.051, p < 0.001), (4) urban livability negatively impacts women employees’ urban withdrawal intention (β = −0.227, p < 0.001) and (5) urban livability serves a moderating role in the relationship between workplace incivility and women employees’ urban withdrawal intention (β = 0.073, p < 0.001). These results not only enrich the theory of human resource management but also provide a basis for the formulation and implementation of urban population management policies.