Customer incivility, surface acting, burnout and well-being in gen Z hairdressers

PurposeBecause of the nature of their work, frontline service employees are highly exposed to customer incivility (CI) and are required to perform surface acting (SA) in such circumstances. Both CI and SA have detrimental impact to a sustainable workforce. This study aims to investigate the psychological effects of CI and SA on emotional exhaustion (EE), organizational commitment (OC) and work–family conflict (WFC).Design/methodology/approachData from 203 respondents who successfully completed the questionnaire is used for the analysis. Structural equation modelling and bootstrapping were performed to investigate the relationship among variables.FindingsThe study found that both CI and SA are positively related to EE. EE is negatively related to OC and positively related to WFC. EE was engaged as a mediator between CI and OC, and between CI and WFC. EE also served as a mediator between SA and OC, and between SA and WFC.Originality/valueThe findings advanced our knowledge of the impact of CI and SA on EE, OC and WFC. Based on the findings, theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine how customer incivility affects service employees’ emotional labor (i.e. surface acting) and the way surface acting augments their emotional exhaustion at work, and in turn, damages customer orientations of service employees.Design/methodology/approach– Using a sample of 309 department store sales employees in South Korea, a two-stage mediation model is used in terms of structural equation modeling.Findings– The results indicate that customer incivility is positively related to service employees’ use of surface acting; this, in turn, results in feelings of emotional exhaustion, which are negatively related to their customer orientation. That is, the findings of this study shows that the negative relationship between customer incivility and service employees’ customer orientation was fully and sequentially mediated by service employees’ surface acting and emotional exhaustion.Research limitations/implications– The main limitation is the nature of the cross-sectional data the authors used in the analysis. It gives us reason to be very cautious in reaching conclusions concerning causal relationships among variables, since the authors did not capture longitudinal variation.Practical implications– The research shows that customer incivility has a negative effect on service employees’ customer-oriented behaviors since experiences of customer incivility among emotionally exhausted employees via surface acting generates inadequate and unfair sense-making related to the treatment offered by customers, which increases the tendency of decreasing their effort and loyalty for customers to prevent further loss of emotional resources. Therefore, service organizations should devise appropriate strategies and implement systematic programs for reducing employee exposure to customer incivility, or preventing it altogether.Originality/value– The current study broadens the conceptual work and empirical studies in customer incivility literature by representing a fundamental mechanism of why customer incivility negatively affects service employees’ customer orientation. The primary contribution of the study is to gain a deeper understanding of how customer incivility leads to lower employee customer-oriented behaviors through double mediating effects of surface acting and emotional exhaustion.

Purpose This study explores the antecedents and impacts of customer incivility (CI) on frontline employees (FLEs) in Vietnam’s banking sector and eco-friendly hotel industry with religious beliefs (RB) and internal green marketing orientation (IGMO) as moderators. Design/methodology/approach This study analyzed two surveys completed by 390 bankers and 520 hotel staff using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to assess the proposed relationships based on the conservation of resources (COR) and social cognitive theory (SCT) frameworks. Findings Customer orientation (CO) is inversely related to CI, suggesting that higher levels of CO are associated with lower CI. Moreover, CI indirectly influences service performance (SP) through psychological mechanisms, notably emotional exhaustion (EE) among banking employees and forgiveness (FG) among hotel staff. RB among FLEs in the banking sector moderates the relationship between CI and EE, whereas IGMO moderates the link between CI and FG in the hospitality industry. Practical implications Strong IGMO within hospitality organizations enhances FLEs’ ability to forgive, thereby improving their emotional resilience and SP. Similarly, RB among banking employees reduces EE, which improves their SP. Organizations can boost employee performance and well-being by incorporating targeted internal communication initiatives and tailored training programs to cultivate a more positive, resilient and high-performing workforce with a sustainable service culture and improved organizational effectiveness. Originality/value This study investigates CI and its effects on FLEs through the unique moderating roles of RB and IGMO in Vietnam’s banking and hospitality sectors.

Purpose Within the framework of conservation of resources (COR) and ego depletion theory, the purpose of this paper is to explore how customer incivility (CI) affects employee job performance by assessing the mediating role of ego depletion and the moderating role of mindfulness. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were collected from a sample of 217 airport frontline employees (FLEs) in Vietnam. The research model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings The results showed that CI indirectly reduced extra-role performance via ego depletion, while in-role performance remained unaffected. Mindfulness buffered the negative impact of CI on ego depletion. Originality/value This study advances understanding of the cognitive mechanisms linking CI to employee performance and identifies key boundary conditions, offering practical insights for managing workplace incivility.

Purpose This study investigates how customer incivility (CI), as an external stressor, influences knowledge hiding (KH). Grounded in the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, it examines the mediating role of emotional exhaustion (EE) and the moderating role of emotional intelligence (EI) to address “why” and “when” frontline employees engage in KH. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through a two-wave time-lagged survey from 234 frontline employees in the hospitality industry of Pakistan. Structural equation modeling was conducted using AMOS and SPSS to test the proposed moderated mediation model. Findings Results reveal that CI significantly increases KH through heightened EE. Furthermore, EI buffers the effect of CI on EE, thereby weakening the indirect relationship between CI and KH. Practical implications Organizations must proactively manage CI, as it depletes employees' emotional resources and increases KH through EE. Strengthening EI can buffer EE and reduce employees' tendency to engage in KH in service contexts. Originality/value This study introduces CI as an external antecedent of KH, extending knowledge management literature beyond its current focus on internal antecedents. The study identifies EE as a mediating mechanism and highlights EI as a personal resource that mitigates the resource-draining impact of CI. The findings broaden the theoretical scope of COR in the KH domain and provide practical insights into reducing dysfunctional knowledge behaviors in service contexts.

Customer incivility not only directly impacts the psychology and motivation of employees, but can also lead to a decrease in service quality and loss of customer loyalty (Mehmood et al., 2023). The goal of this study is to understand the impact of customer incivility on in-role and extra-role performance, under the mediating effect of work-family enrichment. The model was developed based on the addition of previous studies to propose management implications to help increase in-role and extra-role performance. Research data includes 486 samples collected from frontline staff at airports in Vietnam. A partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was used. The results show that customer incivility has a negative effect on in-role and extra-role performance and has a positive effect on work-family enrichment. The relationship between customer incivility and in-role and extra-role performance was mediated by work-family enrichment. The findings develop deeper theories about the relationships between customer incivility and in-role and extra-role performance. The study also contributes to the literature by examining the mechanism underlying customer incivility and how it affects in-role and extra-role performance. In an effort to reduce the negative consequences of uncivil customers and boost staff efficiency, suggestions for management implications have been made since then.

This study examines how emotional labor, with the surface acting dimension and emotional intelligence, affects university students’ academic achievement through emotional exhaustion. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was used in the study. A purposive sampling technique was applied to collect data from 399 valid responses from 521 distributed questionnaires to economics and business students at Vietnamese public universities in Hanoi. Analysis using Partial Least Squares - Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) via SPSS and SmartPLS software revealed that emotional exhaustion fully mediates the negative relationship between surface acting and academic achievement. In contrast, emotional intelligence positively affects academic achievement through partial mediation by emotional exhaustion. The findings expand the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory by showing that surface acting depletes resources and hinders academic success, whereas emotional intelligence builds resilience and conserves resources. This research offers practical insights for improving emotional intelligence, raising awareness of emotional labor’s effects, reducing emotional exhaustion, and enhancing academic outcomes at individual levels in the educational context.

This study contributes to the constantly accumulating evidence on the effects of customer incivility (CI) on service employee exhaustion. Previous research has demonstrated that surface acting (SA) acts as a mediating variable in the relationship between CI and exhaustion. This study extended prior findings in two ways. The results of Study 1 (315 retail sales employees, 62.2% female) demonstrated that SA mediates the positive relationship between CI and exhaustion while controlling for employees’ trait positive and negative affectivity (NA). The results of Study 2 (292 customer service representatives, 51% female) supported a moderated mediation model demonstrating that trait emotional intelligence (EI) buffers the direct and indirect (through SA) effects of CI on exhaustion. Specifically, it was found that employees exposed to many uncivil customer behaviors but high in trait EI reported using less SA and, thus, experienced fewer exhaustion symptoms than their low in trait EI counterparts. These results highlight EI as an important personal resource that mitigates the adverse effects of CI on service employees’ exhaustion, and suggest that organizations should consider implementing EI training programmes for their frontline service employees.

Purpose Amid growing global concern for the psychological sustainability of healthcare professionals (HCPs), this study investigates the role of Workplace Spirituality (WOPS) as a soft total quality management (TQM) practice in enhancing employee wellbeing. Grounded in conservation of resources (COR) theory, WOPS is conceptualized as an organizational resource caravan that shapes emotional labour strategies specifically, surface acting, deep acting and genuine acting as mediators of wellbeing. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey design was employed, utilizing data from 555 healthcare professionals working in private healthcare institutions in India. Validated, multi-dimensional instruments were used to measure WOPS, emotional labour strategies and employee wellbeing. The conceptual model was empirically tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to examine direct and mediated effects. Findings The results provide robust empirical support for WOPS as a dual-pathway enhancer of wellbeing: directly through meaning-making and indirectly through emotional regulation. Specifically, genuine acting emerged as a significant positive mediator, indicating its resource-preserving and authenticity-enhancing function. In contrast, surface acting negatively mediated the relationship, reflecting its resource-depleting and dissonance-inducing nature. Deep acting was not a significant mediator, suggesting its limited adaptive value within high-intensity caregiving roles. Research limitations/implications Theoretically, this study advances COR theory by conceptualizing emotional labour strategies as asymmetrical mediators, where surface acting depletes, and genuine acting replenishes, psychological resources. Practically, it provides actionable guidance for healthcare leaders and HR professionals aiming to embed meaning-driven, value-oriented HRM practices that bolster emotional regulation and promote sustainable employee wellbeing. However, the cross-sectional design limits causal inference, and the exclusive focus on private healthcare professionals in India may restrict generalizability to public or cross-cultural contexts. Future research should adopt longitudinal, multi-level and cross-cultural methodologies to capture the evolving nexus between organizational spirituality, emotional regulation and wellbeing across settings and time. Originality/value This study uniquely positions WOPS as a soft-TQM practice and redefines emotional labour as an organizationally shaped response rather than a solely individual burden. It introduces genuine acting as a critical yet underexplored emotional labour mechanism and expands the geographical scope of workplace spirituality research into the Indian healthcare context.

Snarr, RL and Beasley, VL. Personal, work-, and client-related burnout within strength and conditioning coaches and personal trainers. J Strength Cond Res 36(2): e31-e40, 2022-The purpose of this investigation was to examine the prevalence and influencing factors of personal, work-related, and client-related burnout within strength and conditioning coaches (SCCs) and personal trainers (PTs). Two hundred fifty-six SCCs (n = 141) and PTs (n = 115) completed the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), a 19-item survey, measuring 3 subscales of personal, work-related, and client-related burnout. Information regarding other burnout-related factors (i.e., job satisfaction, social support, fitness level, and mental toughness) was solicited through single-item or multiple-item questionnaires. Correlational analyses and independent t-tests were conducted to assess associations and between-group differences between burnout and all continuous factors. Seventy-one subjects completed the survey before March 2020; after which, a worldwide pandemic (i.e., COVID-19) occurred possibly affecting employment workloads and work-related stress. Thus, post hoc analyses were conducted to assess differences in burnout scores pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19. Using a CBI subscale cutoff score of ≥50, fitness professionals reported 32.8% of personal burnout, 28.5% work-related burnout, and 18.0% client-related burnout. Factored by occupation, SCCs reported 32.6% personal burnout, 27.7% work-related burnout, and 18.4% client-related burnout. Within PTs, 33.0% reported personal burnout, 29.6% reported work-related burnout, and 17.4% reported client-related burnout. Higher levels of burnout, across all scales, were observed in those who were PTs, women, unmarried, living alone, would not choose to be a fitness professional again, and took the survey post-COVID as compared to their respective counterparts. Findings suggest that fitness professionals are not exempt from the stressors associated with personal and occupational burnout. Strength and conditioning coaches and PTs may reduce the risk of burnout by increasing social support, continuing education, and allowing for personal-care time with the intention of buffering these factors.

PurposeThis study intends to examine the influence of customer incivility (CI) on work-family conflict (WFC), with a specific focus on the mediating function of psychological distress (PD) and the moderating role of psychological entitlement (PE). Additionally, the study explores whether PE moderates the indirect influence of CI on WFC through psychological distress.Design/methodology/approachWe gathered data from 326 employees employed in the Indian service sector and analyzed them using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS v4.FindingsThe findings demonstrate that customer incivility increases employee WFC. Additionally, PD served as a partial mediator in CI and WFC relationships. Moreover, the study uncovered that psychological entitlement (PE) moderates the association between CI and PD. Importantly, the indirect influence of customer incivility on WFC via psychological distress was high at higher PE.Practical implicationsThis study offers practical insights for mitigating customer incivility and work-family conflict. Organizations can implement employee assistance programs (EAPs) to offer confidential counseling services to the victim of CI. Additionally, managers should promote a performance-driven culture where incentives and recognition are based on genuine accomplishments to manage psychologically entitled employees.Originality/valueOur research is the first to propose and validate the predictive influence of CI on WFC through psychological distress. Furthermore, by exploring the moderating effect of PE in comprehending the connection between customer incivility, PD and work-family conflict, our study contributes novelty to the existing literature.

Although corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been widely studied, little is known about whether it has implications for customer mistreatment. In this study, we aim to understand how and when CSR is related to customer incivility, a typical type of mistreatment in service contexts. Integrating the perspectives of social exchange theory and social identity theory, we theorize that CSR influences customer incivility via customer trust and customer identification, which are contingent on front‐line employees' emotional labor (i.e., surface acting and deep acting) during service interactions. In our two‐source field study involving 332 employee–customer dyads, CSR promoted both customer trust and customer identification, which in turn reduced customer incivility. Moreover, the indirect relationship between CSR and customer incivility via customer trust (but not customer identification) was weakened by employee surface acting but strengthened by employee deep acting. Taken together, this study uncovers the relationship between CSR and customer mistreatment by exploring how and when CSR influences customer incivility, which advances the understanding of the customer‐related implications of CSR.

This study investigates how employee personality traits and customer orientation influence customer incivility in the service industry, emphasizing the mediating role of customer orientation. Drawing on the Big Five Personality framework, it explores how conscientiousness, agreeableness, and core self-evaluation (CSE) shape employee interactions with customers. The findings show that conscientiousness and agreeableness significantly enhance customer orientation, while CSE is positively linked to selling orientation but has no notable effect on customer orientation. Customer orientation emerges as a key mediating variable that links personality traits to the ability to manage customer incivility. Using a quantitative method, data were collected from 218 frontline employees across various service sectors. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the proposed relationships. The model revealed that personality traits and customer orientation explain only 3.2% of the variance in customer incivility, highlighting the multifactorial nature of this issue and indicating the need to consider broader variables such as workplace climate, emotional labor demands, and organizational support. This research contributes to the literature by demonstrating the indirect influence of personality traits on customer incivility and affirming the importance of customer orientation in service roles. It recommends prioritizing recruiting individuals high in agreeableness and conscientiousness and implementing training programs that foster emotional intelligence and conflict management skills. Additionally, it calls for future research to examine moderating and mediating variables, such as job autonomy, peer support, and cultural context, to develop a more comprehensive understanding of managing customer incivility in diverse service environments.

The purpose of this study is to test the antecedents and outcomes of customer incivility in Ho Chi Minh city. Based on a literature review on Customer Incivility studies, this study investigates the antecedents and outcomes of customer incivility in a case study of the Vietnamese hospitality industry. The paper follows a quantitative approach. A collection sample was gathered from a sample of 477 customers facing employees working in hospitality organizations (hotel and restaurant) in Ho Chi Minh City, the biggest city of Vietnam from June 2020 to August 2020, data were analyzed through structural equation modeling. The results of this study suggest that customer incivility is primarily predicted by service orientation, training/knowledge, and service representative incivility. In addition, the results of this study also show that customer incivility was found to have a significant effect on forgiveness and vengeance. These official results help offer several managerial implications via cementing and upgrading a better service orientation for hotels, restaurants as well as training much more comprehensive to employees about their role in confront with customers, which support to minimize customer incivility and enhance service quality.

This study examines how emotional demands and surface acting contribute to burnout and mental wellbeing among professionals in healthcare, care, and service roles. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 1,506 participants involved in frequent patient, care-receiver, or customer interactions. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), we tested a serial mediation model. Surface acting mediated the relationship between emotional demands and burnout, defined as exhaustion and disengagement. In turn, these burnout dimensions mediated a negative association with mental wellbeing. These effects were consistent across professional groups, indicating the widespread impact of emotional demands and surface acting across occupations. We found no significant linear or curvilinear age moderation effects in the relationships between emotional demands and surface acting, nor between surface acting and burnout. Only workers aged 60+ showed a slightly stronger reliance on surface acting in response to perceived (but not contact-related) emotional demands compared to those aged 50–59. The absence of broader age effects suggests that emotional demands and surface acting contribute to burnout and mental wellbeing similarly across ages. These findings underscore the importance of recognising emotional demands as key occupational hazards affecting workers across professions and throughout the working lifespan.