Erez: “In all three studies, we found that relatively minor incidents of being rude to people influences their functioning. It influences their performance on creative tasks, on complex tasks. It influences helpfulness and it was consistent across the three studies.”

Results show that rudeness not just from a boss, but also from colleagues, can also dramatically disrupt a worker’s mental focus. People treated badly literally become less productive and less creative.

Erez: “So, it’s not that they’re, on purpose, reducing their performance. It’s that they are thinking about the event instead of working. So it’s very disruptive.”

Researchers had expected to find strictly an emotional cause, but instead, they found rude behavior impacts how and what someone thinks and how they perform on the job.