The power of relational energy: mitigating incivility's toll on attention to detail

Purpose Drawing on the job demands-resources model, this study aims to investigate how patient incivility affects healthcare professionals' attention-to-detail behavior via ego depletion and how relational energy moderates this process. Design/methodology/approach An experience sampling method and a scenario-based experiment were employed to test the proposed model. Findings Studies 1 and 2 show that relational energy attenuates both the positive relationship between patient incivility and ego depletion and the indirect effect of patient incivility on attention-to-detail behavior through ego depletion; these relationships are stronger when relational energy is low. Practical implications Organizations can mitigate the effects of patient incivility by managing professionals' self-regulatory capabilities and fostering relational energy through encouraging professional-supervisor interactions and conducting targeted supervisor selection and training. Originality/value This study provides a nuanced understanding of how and why patient incivility predicts professionals' attention-to-detail behavior via ego depletion and identifies relational energy as both a theoretical and practical buffer against incivility.