A Threat of Customer Incivility and Job Stress to Hotel Employee Retention: Do Supervisor and Co-Worker Supports Reduce Turnover Rates?

Chung, Hyunah; Quan, Wei; Koo, Bonhak; Ariza-Montes, Antonio; Vega-Muñoz, Alejandro; Giorgi, Gabriele; Han, Heesup

doi:10.3390/ijerph18126616

Cited by 26 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 86 publications

(180 reference statements)

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“…Customer misbehaviour stood out as a key impact of the pandemic for employees with the vast majority of our respondents reporting that they have experienced and/or witnessed abuse and/or harassment from customers. Few hospitality studies consider customer abuse across a diverse set of hospitality workplaces with extant research on the impact of COVID-19 focussing on occupational stress and coping rather than customer mistreatment (Lippert et al , 2021) or on customer mistreatment experienced by specific groups such as café workers (Ahmed et al , 2021), hotel workers (Chung et al , 2021) or immigrant hospitality workers (Sönmez et al , 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘It’s not a big deal’: customer misbehaviour and social washing in hospitality

Booyens

Hadjisolomou

Nickson

et al. 2022

IJCHM

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Purpose This study aims to examine customer misbehaviour in the hospitality sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on a cross-sectional survey of employees in the Scottish hospitality sector highlighting customer misbehaviour as a key concern during the pandemic. Prevalent types of abuse and harassment experienced are outlined along with employee and management responses to incidents of misbehaviour. Findings Verbal abuse and sexual harassment from customers are the most prevalent types of misbehaviour either experienced or witnessed by respondents. Customer misbehaviour is commonly thought of as “part of the job” and therefore “not a big deal”. Managers, largely, expect workers to tolerate abusive behaviours from customers and do not take reports of incidents seriously. Practical implications Transformational managers need to foster workplace well-being with a focus on physical and psychological safety. Recognition of the issue and greater support for victims are furthermore required at an industry level and on the policy front. Social implications The research points to an uncomfortable reality in the service economy that needs to be confronted by society. It has, therefore, important implications for key stakeholders in ensuring fair, dignified and safe hospitality workplaces. Originality/value Customer misbehaviour is reportedly worsening in times of COVID-19 as demonstrated by this study. Despite rhetoric that abuse and harassment are not tolerated, dismissive attitudes from managers – who expect workers to tolerate abusive behaviour – and employee silence about incidents lead the authors to argue that the failure to acknowledge and address this issue constitutes a form of “social washing” in hospitality.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘It’s not a big deal’: customer misbehaviour and social washing in hospitality

Booyens

Hadjisolomou

Nickson

et al. 2022

IJCHM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Our findings contribute to the understanding of customer incivility in the new service marketplace. Although an increasing body of research has revealed that customer incivility is detrimental to FSEs’ work outcomes during the pandemic (Ahmed et al , 2022; Chung et al , 2021; Yue et al , 2021), whether this detrimental effect has aggravated since the outbreak of the pandemic remains unknown. The change in the magnitude of the negative effect of customer incivility on FSEs can be only captured by comparing pre- and postpandemic samples.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of many work stressors, customer incivility (i.e. rude or insulting behavior perpetrated by customers) has been identified as a key stressor to FSEs (Ahmed et al , 2022; Chung et al , 2021; Yue et al , 2021). While recent studies have shown that customer incivility has an adverse effect on FSEs’ well-being and work outcomes (Ahmed et al , 2022; Chung et al , 2021; Yue et al , 2021), whether this negative effect of customer incivility has exacerbated under an imminent environmental crisis remains unknown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…rude or insulting behavior perpetrated by customers) has been identified as a key stressor to FSEs (Ahmed et al , 2022; Chung et al , 2021; Yue et al , 2021). While recent studies have shown that customer incivility has an adverse effect on FSEs’ well-being and work outcomes (Ahmed et al , 2022; Chung et al , 2021; Yue et al , 2021), whether this negative effect of customer incivility has exacerbated under an imminent environmental crisis remains unknown. To address this gap in literature, the present study examines the moderating effect of experiencing the environmental crisis on the relationship between customer incivility, work engagement and job crafting.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Customer incivility and employee outcomes in the new service marketplace

Hwang

Hur²,

Shin³

et al. 2022

JSM

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Purpose Due to volatile changes and crises in the business environment, frontline service employees (FSEs) are faced with increasing work stressors in the new service marketplace. Of these, customer incivility has been found to negatively affect their work outcomes. This study aims to examine the moderating effect of experiencing an imminent environmental crisis (i.e. the COVID-19 pandemic) on the relationship between customer incivility, work engagement and job crafting, using pre- and postpandemic samples. Design/methodology/approach The authors administered two-wave surveys to 276 FSEs (prepandemic sample) in July and October 2019 and to 301 FSEs (postpandemic sample) in March and April 2020. Findings Moderation analyses showed that the relationship between customer incivility, work engagement and job crafting varied between FSEs who experienced the pandemic and those who did not; the relationship was stronger for the postpandemic than the prepandemic sample. There was a positive relationship between work engagement and job crafting; it was weaker for the postpandemic sample. Research limitations/implications The deleterious effect of customer incivility exacerbated after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the authors did not explore why the pandemic aggravated the negative effect. The mechanism underlying the moderating effect of the pandemic and the effect of more diverse types of incivility should be explored in future research. Practical implications It is critical to provide FSEs with instrumental and emotional support to cope with the crisis brought on by the pandemic. Service organizations must monitor customers’ uncivil behaviors to identify their causes and develop interventions to improve service quality. Furthermore, service organizations are advised to enhance the coping capabilities of FSEs by using diverse interventions, such as emotion regulation training, debriefing sessions, short breaks and job crafting. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to reveal the moderating effect of the pandemic on the relationships between customer incivility, work engagement and job crafting, using pre- and postpandemic samples. This study offers necessary insights to improve FSEs’ engagement at work and enhance their job crafting in the new service marketplace.

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“…Its pervasiveness in all environments is reflected in the research literature that documents the problem in both the private and public sectors (Catley et al, 2013; Hutchinson & Jackson, 2015; Nguyen et al, 2019). Workplace bullying is known to occur in offices and manufacturing factories (Rodriguez, 2017; Salin, 2001; Sims & Sun, 2012), in corporate boardrooms (Harvey et al, 2006), in tax-funded community services (Gershman, 2014; Griffith et al, 2016; Kim et al, 2018), in health care venues (Hutchinson et al, 2006; Lamberth, 2015; Shabazz et al, 2016 ), in service industries providing social support and assistance (Hallberg & Strandmark, 2006; Inness et al, 2008), and in the hospitality industry (Chung et al, 2021; Okafor & Okoye, 2017; Ram, 2015) There are many examples of workplace bullying in institutions of higher education (Hodgins et al, 2017; Hollis, 2015; Howard, 2011; Zabrodska & Kveton, 2013), in politics and all levels of government (Francis, 2019; Reid, 2009, 2016; Rheault et al, 2019), as well as in religious institutions (Finlan, 2015; Turner, 2018). With no workplace assured of protection from bullying, it is not surprising that individuals at any level of an organization can become unwilling targets of abuse, or bystanders who witness attacks against colleagues.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Upwards Workplace Bullying: A Literature Review

2022

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There is a large body of international literature on most aspects of workplace bullying, yet there are only a few research articles dealing with bullying of bosses, managers, and leaders by their subordinates and staff members. Over time the term “upwards bullying” has been accepted as the generic term to describe this phenomenon but using these search terms does not provide a comprehensive indication of relevant publications. This literature review identifies and collates English language research on upwards bullying to document its research status, its lack of visibility in the workplace, and to connect upwards bullying with related research on aggression against supervisors and managers. Included is research that specifically labels the phenomena as upwards or upward bullying, along with related terms of subordinate-initiated bullying, supervisor-targeted bullying, bottom-up bullying, bullying the manager, and bullying the boss. Nonacademic publications are not included, nor is research on related workplace misbehavior such as cyberbullying, legal action resulting from upwards bullying or whistle blowers, and extortion or blackmail. Areas for further exploration in the field are identified with indicators of how this type of workplace bullying differs from lateral and downward bullying. Coverage up to the year 2020 is provided with the expectation that the trend of working from home driven by safety considerations during the COVID-19 epidemic could change employee responses and reactions to their workplace leaders and management.

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A Threat of Customer Incivility and Job Stress to Hotel Employee Retention: Do Supervisor and Co-Worker Supports Reduce Turnover Rates?

Cited by 26 publications

References 86 publications

‘It’s not a big deal’: customer misbehaviour and social washing in hospitality

‘It’s not a big deal’: customer misbehaviour and social washing in hospitality

Customer incivility and employee outcomes in the new service marketplace

Upwards Workplace Bullying: A Literature Review

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