Workplace Incivility and Internal Glass Ceiling Among Women Employees: Examining the Moderating Role of Age

Abstract

Workplace incivility is a critical organizational issue that affects not only the well-being of employees but the professional relationships too. When women employees are excluded from important workplace matters and key areas, they may experience a subtle barrier of discrimination, which can lead to an internal glass ceiling and that can weaken their leadership aspirations. This type of issue is mainly evident in the Indian IT sector, where technology is deeply integrated into many aspects of employees' work. In light of these concerns, this study focuses on the association between workplace incivility and the internal glass ceiling among women employees and whether this relationship varies across age groups. A quantitative research design was adopted to describe the study variables and analyse the relationship among variables. For this study, Data were gathered from women employees at Infopark, Kerala, using a purposive sampling technique. The results demonstrated that workplace incivility may be linked to internal psychological barriers that can affect women employees’ confidence in leadership roles. The analysis revealed that workplace incivility was linked to lower confidence and more frequent avoidance behaviours. No significant moderating role of age was observed in the relationship between workplace incivility and the internal glass ceiling. The findings emphasise the need for employee-friendly HR policies and workplace civility initiatives for maintaining secure environments within the organization.

Keywords: Workplace Incivility, Internal Glass Ceiling, Women Employees, IT Sector