Background: Workplace incivility is a serious concern in the healthcare setting worldwide. Addressing how sexism impacts this, may help administrators take action to reduce this problem and to increase safety at work.
Methods: 557 nurses (63% women) read a hospital scene describing an episode of incivility from a nurse leader towards a nurse employee. They then evaluated the situation regarding their awareness, tolerance, and their beliefs toward sexism by completing a self-report questionnaire.
Findings: Two distinct nurse profiles emerged: high-sensitivity and medium-sensitivity. Medium-sensitivity nurses were significantly higher in sexism in employment, and differ in their evaluation of workplace incivility from highly sensitive nurses.
Conclusions: The majority of nurses are sensitive to workplace incivility, but those with sexist tendencies in employment are less aware and tolerate uncivil episodes to a greater extent.
Application to practice: Training nurses to be aware of workplace incivility is necessary, especially for those demonstrating sexism.
Keywords: bystanders; leaders; nursing; sexism; workplace incivility.