Customer incivility and employee outcomes in the new service marketplace

Abstract

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.

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

“…While customer misbehaviour is a known problem in hospitality, this research points to the phenomenon becoming more pronounced during COVID-19 as appears to be the case in other customer-facing service jobs (Hwang et al , 2022; Mayer et al , 2022; One Fair Wage, 2020; Shin et al , 2021). This research highlights verbal abuse and sexual harassment as the most prevalent types of customer misbehaviour experienced by hospitality workers.…”

“…Brown et al (2020, p. 263) caution that the experiences of workplace violence often lead to depression, anxiety and feelings of worthlessness which spill over into the personal lives of young workers. This said, in view of rising incivility during the COVID-19 pandemic, these behaviours lead to the increased mental health morbidity of service workers as reported in recent studies (Hwang et al, 2022;Mayer et al, 2022).…”

Responsibilization during uncontrollable events: understanding how consumers assign and accept responsibility for service employee welfare

“…Services research has brought attention to issues around service worker welfare (Subramony et al , 2021). However, there is little research on consumer perceptions of worker welfare issues, aside from work examining consumers’ ambivalence toward labor causes (Yu, 2009) and research on the mistreatment of service employees (Fisk and Neville, 2011; Hwang et al , 2022; Yagil, 2017). By examining how consumers feel about the role they and other parties should have to help services workers in times of crisis, our research provides a better understanding of factors that that motivate consumers to help a population they often overlook and shows how major events like a pandemic can affect consumer attitudes (in line with recommendations of Rosenbaum and Russell-Bennett, 2020).…”

“…Research shows customers hold ambivalent attitudes toward the problems of lower-level workers and are less likely to change their own behavior to benefit labor causes (Yu, 2009). Media coverage during the pandemic likewise demonstrated many consumers’ indifference to the hazards these employees faced (Miranda, 2021), and other research demonstrates how poorly some customers treated employees during the pandemic (Hwang et al , 2022). To understand what could make consumers more willing to be part of the solution, firms must be aware of factors that could encourage or discourage such impulses.…”

“…Finally, while services research highlights growing concerns around service worker welfare (Subramony et al , 2021), less research highlights the consumer perspective on this issue (Yu, 2009 for an exception). Through this research, we provide service researchers with a better understanding of what affects consumer motivation to help an overlooked and sometimes less respected population (Hwang et al , 2022).…”