The Dark Side of School Culture

Patricia Mannix-McNamara, Niamh Hickey, Sarah MacCurtain and Nicolaas Blom
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Patricia Mannix-McNamara: School of Education, University of Limerick, V94 PX58 Limerick, Ireland
Niamh Hickey: School of Education, University of Limerick, V94 PX58 Limerick, Ireland
Sarah MacCurtain: Department of Work and Employment Studies, University of Limerick, V94 PX58 Limerick, Ireland
Nicolaas Blom: School of Education, University of Limerick, V94 PX58 Limerick, Ireland

Societies, 2021, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: The extant literature evidences the link between incivility and workplace culture. Both have a symbiotic relationship whereby a change in one influences the other. When workplace cultures develop dysfunctional values and beliefs, negative traditions, and caustic ways of interacting, they have become “toxic cultures.” This study examined Irish post-primary school teachers’ experiences of incivility and toxic culture in the workplace through in-depth interviews with forty-two participants. Results show that toxic work culture had a negative impact on both the personal and professional lives of the participants. We conclude that antecedents in toxic school culture are linked to epistemological assumptions, group dynamics, and deficiencies in leadership, and we suggest that they act as causes and/or facilitators of workplace bullying.

Keywords: workplace culture; incivility; toxic culture; post-primary schools (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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